The Eternity Jedi: Eternity Legion Book 3
by J.C. Lords
Summary: Bk 3: Star Wars Universe meets the Eternity Legion!
1. Default Chapter

**The Eternity Jedi: Eternity Legion, Book 3**

By J.C. Lords

Disclaimers: 

**Star Trek and associated characters, concepts and names are @ copyright and ® trademarks of Paramount Pictures.**

**Xena Warrior Princess, Hercules the Legendary Journeys and associated characters, concepts and names are @ copyright and ® trademarks of Universal Pictures and/or MCA Universal and/or Renaissance Pictures.**

**Doc Savage and associated characters, concepts and names are @ copyright and ® trademarks of Conde Nash Publications Inc.**

**Indiana Jones and associated characters, concepts and names are @ copyright and ® trademarks of Lucasfilms, Ltd.**

**Star Wars and associated characters, concepts and names are @ copyright and ® trademarks of Lucasfilms, Ltd.**

**Sliders and associated characters, concepts and names are @ copyright and ® trademarks of St Clair Entertainment and/or MCA Universal and/or USA Networks.**

**Prologue**

Cloud City

A Long Time Ago, In a Galaxy Far, Far Away…

" No. No. That's not true! That's impossible!"

Luke Skywalker backed away from his tormentor. The pain of his severed hand was fading away as shock set it. And no physical pain could match the agony in his soul.

It couldn't be! Darth Vader could not be his father!

" Search your feelings. You know it to be true." The deep, inhuman voice of the masked figure delivered the words like knife stabs. Luke reached out with the Force -- and recoiled, in horrible realization. It was true. He had been lied to. Ben Kenobi, and then Yoda had lied to him. 

Vader's seductive words ate at his spirit like a corrosive acid. Anger and hatred -- at Vader, at his teachers, at the Universe itself, for placing him in this situation -- flared inside him.

"Join me, and we can rule the galaxy as father and son," Vader continued. "Come with me. It's the only way."

They hadbetrayed him, all of them. 

Darth Vader's light saber switched off. The dark Jedi extended his hand towards Luke. A simple that meant so much. Obi-Wan had treated Luke like a stupid child, and not revealed the truth except when it suited him. Yoda had been even worse -- rude, insulting, downright sleazy. Nobody had offered him friendship like this man, this enemy.

Luke Skywalker reached a crossroads. Behind him lay an escape of sorts. If he jumped off the gantry platform, he would free of everything. If he took Vader's hand, everything would change. Yoda had said he wasn't ready for this encounter. But Yoda had lied.

"Father!"

Luke clasped Vader's hand and embraced his destiny.

*****

"No!" Leia Organa snapped out of her daze and shouted in despair. 

Chewbacca grunted in surprise. "What's wrong?" asked Lando Carissian. They were in the Millenium Falcon, beating a hasty retreat from Lando's former city, now seized by the Empire. Along with Cloud City, the Empire had also taken Han Solo, Lando's old friend.

"Luke. It's Luke. He…" Leia hesitated, and then did what she hadn't done even after she witnessed the destruction of her home planet: she burst into tears.

"Let's get going, Chewie," Lando said. "Nothing left to do here."

*****

Planet Dagobah

"Lost! Lost is he, and the fault mine is!"

Jedi Master Yoda's wail echoed darkly through the swamps where he made his home. To a mundane observed, the wizened little creature appeared to be talking to himself. To an adept in the Force, however, the spirit matrix of Obi-Wan Kenobi would have been clearly visible, facing Yoda with a sad expression in his face.

"Leia sensed Luke's fate as well. I believe the Force is awakening in her," Ob-Wan said.

"Our only hope she is," Yoda said, regaining his composure. "But too late I fear."

"Perhaps, my old teacher," Ben replied. "But I have learned something you may have not. There are more worlds than this. And the Force exists in every one of them."

"And matters this how? This world doomed is."

"Perhaps. The future is clouded, full of uncertainties. I sense that outsiders will seek to interfere with the fate of this world."

"The future clouded is," Yoda agreed. "Dark clouds, full of doom."


	2. Chapter Two

**Chapter One**

Planet Tatooine

Jabba the Hut's throne room was always filled with a large crowd. It was a gathering more concerned with variety than quality. Cut-throats and criminals from a hundred planets could be found there, paying homage to their leader, or trying to sell and buy illicit goods, or simply having a good time. Other guests were there somewhat less willingly. Case in point: the chained princess at Jabba's feet, dressed in the skimpy costume of a pleasure dancer.

Leia Organa fought yet another wave of depression and despair. The situation might be hopeless, but she would not give her tormentors the satisfaction of watching her crumble. Whatever torments Jabba had in store for her could not be worse than interrogation at the hands of Darth Vader. And if she had a chance, the Hut would pay for his crimes

As if sensing her resolve, Jabba playfully tugged on the chain connected to the collar around her neck. She glared at him. Jabba laughed. "Don't look so angry, Princess," the crime lord said in Huttese, a language Leia understood, but which few non-Huts ever spoke, it was so vile and disgusting -- and, to be honest, very hard to pronounce. "I have been merciful, have I not? Solo still lives. For a little longer."

Her heart skipped a beat. Her attempt to rescue Han had been hopeless from the start, its failure as predetermined as the second act of a badly written play. The initial bargain, sending her two droids to Jabba to try to negotiate a ransom, had been a failure. Lando Carissian had infiltrated the smuggler's household, and Leia had gained entrance by posing as an Ubese bounty hunter, delivering Chewbacca into Jabba's hands. The plan had been for her to free Han, even as Lando released Chewie. It hadn't worked. She managed to free Han from the carbonite matrix that had frozen him like a hideous ebony statue, but Jabba and his henchmen captured her and Lando. Now her three companions were in a cell somewhere, the droids were being inducted into Jabba's service, and she was Jabba's plaything.

And Luke…

"Luke," she whispered to herself, her eyes glistening.

*****

Han Solo was having a truly bad day.

The smuggler-turned-revolutionary had woken up from carbonite hibernation less than two hours ago. The experience had been particularly unpleasant -- he still felt chills all the way to the marrow of his bones. He was also blind -- a temporary situation, if he lived long enough. That was far from certain.

There'd been an all-too-brief reunion with Leia, and then Jabba had sprung his trap. He might be blind, but even a blind man could tell he was in a deep pile of Bantha droppings.

On his cellmates agreed. "I've got to hand it to you, Solo," Lando Carissian said ruefully. "When you get in trouble, you don't stint yourself."

"Nobody pulled a gun on you to come after me, Lando," Solo replied. Chewbacca roared. "Okay, maybe Chewie was a little insistent."

"And that girlfriend of yours," Lando said. "I didn't dare say no to her. Besides, the Empire stole my city away, so I was between jobs and had nothing better to do."

"Yeah. Well, I appreciate it. Thanks." Chewie cleared his throat. "You too, Chewie. But, where is Luke? Is the kid all right?" This caper was just the kind of half-assed stunt the wannabe Jedi would attempt, Han knew. Blind as he was, he couldn't see the expression on his friends' faces, but he felt their mood change. "Is he all right?"

"No, Han. The kid's not all right."

*****

Planet Dagobah

Yoda closed his eyes, and waited for the end.

They approached him from two sides, father and son, light sabers ready.

"So full of anger, your are," Yoda said softly. "So full of fear."

"You said that to me when I was a child," Darth Vader replied. "You would not teach me. And yet, here I stand, old man. Who is full of fear now?"

Yoda ignored the Dark Lord. He turned towards Luke, opened his eyes, and recoiled.

Luke had been remade in his father's image. His hand was a mechanical construct, cold and lifeless. He had shaved off all his hair, and painted his face in the style of a Sith Warrior. "Hello, my teacher," Sith Luke said, and Yoda realized there was no hope. "Why so quiet? Where are the wise sayings, the insults, the criticism?" Sith Luke continued, his voice dripping with dark gleefulness. "I had so much trouble learning from you. But look!" He gestured towards a large rock, and his face contorted with anger. The rock levitated smoothly out of the muck. "I've learned so much from my father."

"The Dark Side a shorter path is," Yoda admitted. "But to madness and death it leads."

"Liar!" Luke shouted. "You lied to me! You and Ben, with your games and your stupid riddles. I'm sick of them!" His voice grew colder. "And I'm sick of you." Luke extended his open hand like a weapon, and closed it. Yoda felt a crushing pressure around his throat. "You never taught me this trick, either."

Yoda concentrated, and the pressure disappeared. So did the sadistic smile on Luke's face. "A child's trick it is, easily dispelled," the Jedi Master said.

Darth Vader laughed, an inhuman, mechanical sound. "My son is young, Yoda. His strength is on the rise, and yours is on the wane. Can you stand against both of us?"

Darth Vader now made the same strangling gesture, and Luke redoubled his own effort. Yoda felt the pressure again. They were so strong, and he was so tired. 

"Die, old monster," Darth Vader said. "Die, and trouble us no more."

"I see your fate," Yoda cried out, despite the killing pressure. "From beyond time and space, you will face your old teachers, and your power shall be overthrown."

"Useless jabber," Vader replied contemptuously. He and his son looked at each other. "Let us put an end to this."  
Yoda seemed to crumble under the psychic assault. His clothing collapsed to the ground, empty.

"Gone," Luke -- no, Sith Luke, his old name had died on Cloud City -- said, seething with frustrated anger. "Just like Ben."

"The ghosts of cowards are no great obstacle," replied Vader. He turned his back on the pile of clothes that would be Yoda's only memorial. "Now, show me the place you told me about, the cavern where the Dark Side is strong. There, I will teach you how to destroy a weak mind and replace it with a construct of your devising."

Sith Luke smiled "I would like that very much, Father."

*****

Starship Enterprise, Bridge

Captain Jean-Luc Picard was not a naturally patient man. He could maintain his composure when circumstances forced him to wait, but he could not stop hating the delay.

"Picard to Engineering," he said. "Any luck yet?"

"Sorry, Captain," Chief Engineer Giordi Laforge replied. "I just finished another simulation, and it clearly shows that the transporters will not work." He paused. "To be precise, they will work with only 73% reliability." He didn't have to add that transporting 73% of a living being was worse than not transporting said being at all.

"Carry on, Giordi," Picard said. He was not normally in the habit of jogging a subordinate's elbow like that, and that was a clear sign of frustration. Here he was, aboard a starship, with the theoretical ability of performing a rescue mission in a few seconds, or to set down a hundred security officers on the spot -- and because of a tiny differential in the space-time constraints of this universe, he had been forced to send six people down on a shuttle to effect said rescue mission. 

One of the first things Picard had learned when he joined the Eternity Legion was that each of the myriad timelines in the Multiverse had its own set of physical laws. They were nearly identical -- human life, and matter and energy itself could only exist within a relatively narrow set of physical constants -- but even tiny differences could make big differences on advanced technologies. In this particular case, a small variance in the laws of vacuum density made the Enterprise's transporters useless. From his briefings, this variance had prevented the development of transporter technology on this reality. Giordi was trying to find a way to sidestep the problem -- in theory it was a simple matter of realigning the transporter beams -- but it was going to take time. Time they didn't have.

Picard sighed inwardly. He was working for an organization of incredible power, able to recruit agents from billions of different timelines, and yet he was forced to rely on his primitive 24th-century technology. His mentors could guide and provide some minimal support, but the Eternity agents had to do the rest. Intellectually, Picard understood: the use of wildly divergent technologies could and would attract the attention of the Eternity Legion's enemies, with disastrous results. Emotionally, it felt like being forced to fight with one hand tied behind his back.

"Captain," Commander Data reported from his station. "I have detected several large vessels emerging from hyperspace three Astronomical Units away from Tatooine."

"On screen."

Three huge triangular vessels came into view, each over twice as long as the Enterprise. "They are Imperial Star Destroyers, Captain," Data reported. "According to our briefings, their weapons and shields are inferior to our own, but their size allows them to deploy many more weapons, including a fighter contingent."

"They are heading straight towards Tatooine," Commander Riker reported. "They may be coming to pick up the people we're here to rescue."

"A very large force, for a handful of prisoners," Picard said thoughtfully. "They must want them very badly."

"We will be in their sensor range in less than an hour."

"Let's introduce ourselves, then. Set up an intercept course. Full impulse," Picard ordered. 

The rescue team would be on their own until the situation was resolved. Fortunately, the six men and women in the team were among the most resourceful and talented people in the Multiverse. 

He silently wished them luck. They would probably need it.

*****

Planet Tatooine

Obi-Wan Kenobi took a deep breath. The cold air of Tatooine at night filled his lungs, as he pondered the impossible.

He had never been in this world.

And yet he had.

At least, another Obi-Wan Kenobi, the one born in this universe, had been in this planet. Had lived here for a long time, although he was no longer here. Obi-Wan could feel echoes in the Force, spiritual residues of his temporal twin. It was a disturbing experience, to sense feelings and memories that felt exactly like his own, and yet were utterly alien. 

"Focus your mind, Obi-Wan." Obi-Wan looked at his teacher. Qui-Gon Jin had sensed his confusion. The stern tone masked concern, and friendship. Thankful for the intervention, Obi-Wan relaxed, allowed the confusion to stream past him, and concentrated on the task at hand. 

"She is in that building," Qui-Gon said, indicating the fortress in the desert. "I can sense the Force in her. She is in some distress; we must act soon." He looked back at his companions, fellow Eternity Agents.

Wade Wells met her teacher's eyes steadily. The former Slider turned Jedi had stopped being afraid a long time ago. Her hand rested on the light saber she had made herself. Qui-Gon nodded approvingly. For someone who had started her training so late in life, she had made remarkable progress.

The other three were not adepts in the Force, but Qui-Gon could not ask for better companions. Xena of Thrace smiled at him -- not a nice smile, but these were not nice circumstances. She still had her archaic weapons, but she knew how to use the phaser on belt. "We have to move quickly, knock them off-balance, and escape with the prisoners," the warrior princess said. She was already formulating a plan.

"Can you get us in?" asked Doctor Clark Savage, Man of Bronze, the fifth member of the team. "My wide-spectrum knockout gas canisters should subdue most guards in short order." As usual, his voice and expression betrayed little emotion. Qui-Gon believed his claims implicitly; Doc Savage was a scientific genius, who, despite having grown up in 20th-century Earth, had mastered new technologies with astonishing ease.

"And while you take care of the guards, I will help the prisoners on their way out," said the last member of the team, Doctor Henry "Indiana" Jones. His skill at escaping from impossible situations made him uniquely suited to this mission.

The six agents put their minds together. They soon had a plan. 

They were all experienced enough to know that plans rarely survive contact with the enemy, though.

*****

Bib Fortuna, Jabba's repulsive assistant, rushed into the Hut's great hall, and hurriedly whispered into his master's ear. Leia leaned forward, hoping to overhear. Jabba backhanded her away with casual brutality. Leia wiped blood off the corner of her mouth, staring intently at the crime lord.

With an angry grunt, Jabba pushed Bib off. "The Empire has come for you, Princess," Jabba announced, and Leia's heart sank. "Their request is backed by not one, not two, but three Star Destroyers." The gathered sycophants fell silent at the announcement: any one of those ships could destroy any vessel in Tatooine and lay waste to the whole planet. After a long pause, Jabba chuckled. "It appears I only have a few hours with you, my Princess. Let us make them memorable." The assembled crowd of criminals laughed in an atonal chorus. "Bring me the prisoners!" Several Gamorrean guards rushed to obey. 

Leia remained silent. She wouldn't beg, not that it would her any good.

It took a lot of effort to retain control of her feelings when the Gamorreans returned with Han, Chewbacca and Lando, handcuffed and looking the worse for wear. Standing unobtrusively on a corner, Boba Fett, the bounty hunter who had brought Han Solo to Jabba, watched the proceedings with interest. Han was still blind; his sightless gaze slid past her without stopping. "I'm here, Han!" she shouted. He deserved that much.

"Don't worry, Leia," Han said. "We're getting out of here!" That got a big laugh from Jabba and his cronies.

"You are right, Solo," Jabba said ominously. "Your princess will be leaving shortly. And so, in a manner of speaking, will you."

"Damnit, Jabba!" Solo shouted. "I'm giving you one last chance!" The crowd stopped laughing and yelling for a moment. "If you let us go, right now, there'll be no hard feelings. We have friends, you know. Powerful friends."

The laughter lasted a good long while this time.

"Ah, Solo," Jabba finally said. "Your last moments have been most amusing. You have earned the privilege of being the last to feed my pet." He turned to the guards. "Start with the Wookie."  
The two Gamorreans holding Chewie started hauling him forward, despite his struggles. Han started to protest, and his guards clubbed him to his knees. Leia closed her eyes, feeling the cheers of the crowd washing over her, drowning her…

The cheers stopped cold. Leia's eyes snapped open.

Two men and one woman had made their way through the crowd, which had parted for them with amazing ease. She had never seen them before, although the younger one seemed strangely familiar. Bib Fortuna had led them in; the alien assistant had a stunned look on his face.

"What is this?" Jabba said threateningly. 

"These people are under our protection," the older newcomer said. "We will leave with them, and there will be no trouble."

Leia felt the power in those words. Everywhere, members of the crowd started muttering the words. "They will leave, and there will be no trouble." The stranger was using the Force!

Jabba laughed his rumbling, dark laugh. "A Force mind-trick! I thought the Jedi had died out." His words seemed to break the spell the stranger had woven on the crowd. People shook their heads, as if waking up from a dream. The guards started advancing on the newcomers.

"There are three Jedi here," the stranger said. Three light sabers lit up, and the newcomers formed a circle. The crowd backed away from them. "Give us the prisoners, and we will leave in peace."

"Leave?" Jabba replied. "You fool! Even if you escape my fortress alive – and you won't – what will you do about the three Star Destroyers heading this way?"

Leia was intent on the stranger, so she noticed a slight hesitation among then upon hearing the news. But hardly breaking stride, the older Jedi smiled. 

"Oh, I think the Star Destroyers will be quite busy."

*****

Starship Enterprise, Bridge

"They have detected us, Captain. They are going to battle stations."

On the screen, the three Star Destroyers spread out in a V formation, two vessels in front and one in back. Dozens of smaller fighters scrambled out of the huge vessels. The Enterprise appeared hopelessly outnumbered and outgunned.

"Let's hail them," Picard said. "It will buy us time, if nothing else." Time for the agents to rescue the prisoners. Picard didn't think that talking would deter the Imperials from their purposes, however.

A man in a grey uniform appeared on the screen. "I am Moff Derwan of the Empire," the thin, humorless man said. "Surrender immediately, or be destroyed."

"I am Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the United Federation of Planets. Tatooine is under our protection. Please state your intentions."

"What --? Who --?" Moff Derwan stammered. "There is no Federation in this sector. There was a Trade Federation decades ago…" His confusion was replaced with anger. "Stop playing games, Rebel scum! You will pay with your effrontery with your life!" Communication was cut off.

"Do people in this universe seriously talk like that?" Riker said. 

"They do seem to place a high value on melodrama," Picard replied. "However, they are acting in deadly earnest."

"We will be in weapon range in fifteen minutes, Captain," Data reported. "Their initial fighter wave will reach us in twelve minutes."

"Evasive maneuvers. Let's try to keep our distance, and maneuver until they are exactly where we want them."

"And then we play the ace in our sleeve," Riker said, an eager expression in his face.

"Indeed."

*****

Planet Tatooine

Jabba made a gesture, and a trapdoor opened under the three Jedi. Qui-Gon and Wade were near the edge, and were able to leap clear, but Obi-Wan fell into the pit.

"Kill them!" Jabba shouted. Gamorreans rushed forward, wielding spears, even as the other guests leveled an assortment of energy weapons at the two remaining intruders.

Every member of Jabba's gang was paying attention to the Jedi. That meant that the second team of Eternity agents were able to come in without anyone noticing. Doc Savage made an opening by the simple expedient of banging together the heads of two aliens, hard enough to knock them out. Xena charged through the opening, shouting her ululating battle cry. Her chakram spun from her hand and flew around the room. Half a dozen thugs were struck; another three had their weapons smashed. Only a couple of shots were actually fired at the Jedi, and their light sabers deflected them away, in Qui-Gon's case, reflected right back at the shooters, with fatal results.

Indiana Jones used his whip on a support beam, anchoring it in place. Indy swung through the air above the melee, right towards the Gamorreans holding Han, Lando and Chewie. He kicked two of the guards as he came to the end of the swing. A practiced twist of his hand, and the whip was loosened. As soon as the guards were distracted, Chewie and Lando went for them. Their hands were cuffed in front of them, but they made do. Chewie took particular pleasure in rabit-punching the Gamorreans until they stopped moving. Another smuggler started to aim a blaster at the prisoners. Indy's Webley Mark 6 revolver barked twice and the alien collapsed, killed by the obsolete but quite functional handgun.

The Gamorreans who charged the Jedi never had a chance. They were wielding spears, and going into hand-to-hand against a light saber-wielding Jedi is a losing proposition. Of the five who pressed their attack, three ran away as soon as their spearheads were sliced off. The other two fell to the ground in four separate pieces.

Doc Savage tossed five grenades into the crowd. Gas billowed out, and aliens from a dozen different races went down, unconscious. He was about to toss another set of grenades, when he heard a rumbling noise below.

Obi-Wan had managed to land on his feet and retain his light saber. He was at the bottom of a large underground chamber, some twenty-five feet below the hall. A huge iron door rolled up, and out came a gigantic monster. A Rancor, a large predator from another planet, imported by Jabba to deal with his enemies in an entertaining way. The audience above was somewhat distracted, but the Rancor did not care about giving a show. It was hungry, and a tiny creature with a shiny light was in front of him. It reached with towards the Jedi an enormous clawed hand.

And withdrew it an instant later, minus two fingers Obi-Wan loped off with a swipe of his light saber. Roaring in anger and pain, the Rancor gathered itself to pounce. Obi-Wan watched it intently – he would only have on chance to leap clear, and a light saber would not prevent tons of bone and muscle from crushing him like a bug.

Doc Savage landed on the Rancor's back. He sank his hands on each side of the creature's neck, clamping down on nerves and blood vessels. The sudden pain stopped the charge short, giving Obi-Wan a chance to act. The Jedi dashed between the monster's legs: slash and backslash, and the Rancor fell forward, hamstrung, unable to hold its own weight. The impact shook but did not dislodge Doc Savage. As the Rancor's hands reached for him, the Man of Bronze braced himself and punched into the Rancor's eye with all his strength. Obi-Wan, charging forward, saw the Rancor stiffen, then grow still. With a brutal jerk, Doc Savage wrenched his arm, red to the elbow, our of the monster's skull. Obi-Wan was quite impressed.

Aboveground, the battle raged on. 

Qui-Gon stepped towards Jabba.

"You really should have negotiated with us," the Jedi said.

Boba Fett had bided his time. Emerging from behind an overturned table, he fired his cable gun at the Jedi. Metal coils wrapped around Qui-Gon, trapping his arms to his sides. The bounty hunter aimed his gun, ready to fire before the Jedi could free himself. 

A wailing battle cry distracted Boba Fett. He looked up, and Xena's drop kick caught him right on his helmeted head, bowling him over. "You're pretty good at shooting the helpless," Xena said as she punched and kicked the bounty hunter. "Let's try fighting somebody face-to-face!" The barrage of blows staggered Boba Fett, but his armor provided some protection, and he soon recovered enough to react. He parried a punch, and countered with a back fist that staggered Xena. Boba extended his other hand, and a vibro-blade extruded from its wrist sheath. Xena dodged several slashes; a near miss scored a bloody wound along her left arm; if it hadn't been for the protective force field that Eternity agents were equipped with, the slash would have taken her arm off.

"Excuse me," somebody said behind Boba Fett. The bounty hunter turned, and saw Qui-Gon, who had freed himself. Qui-Gon's slash beheaded Boba Fett.

"Thanks," Xena said, and repaid the favor a moment later by kicking a charging Gamorrean before he could stab the Jedi in the back.

*****

Jabba's rage had been replaced by panic. The intruders were but a handful, but they were mopping the floor with his henchmen. He had to get away. Jabba pressed a button, and the contragravity platform he lay upon powered up and started floating away. 

Leia Organa wasn't about to allow that. She hurled a platter of food at Jabba, blinding him temporarily. Jabba's tiny pet, Salacious Crumb, screeched and went for her eyes. With a disgusted shout, she knocked the critter away, and reached into a compartment on the platform. Was it – yes, there it was.

Jabba wiped the food from his eyes – and Leia pounced. She forced something into Jabba's mouth, and the Hutt swallowed it reflexively. He opened his eyes, and saw Leia holding a blaster in one hand – and the cap of a thermal detonator in the other.

"No," Jabba rumbled. The thermal detonator he had swallowed sat heavily in his stomach.

"Yes," Leia replied. She used the blaster to cut through the chain, and she ran from the Hutt.

Jabba spent the last moments of his life trying to claw a hole into his guts. During his frenzied trashing, he rolled over Salacious Crumb and smeared him all over the ground.

No big loss.

*****

"What's going on?" Han Solo asked as Chewie and Lando led him through the battle. His vision was beginning to return; he saw indistinct blurs so far, but it was getting better.

"We're getting out of here!" Lando replied.

"What? What about Leia?" Han blinked furiously. He could see again! A man in a funny hat was leading the way. He grabbed him and spun him around. "Listen, buddy. I'm thankful but…"

Han blinked again, shook his head.

Indiana Jones did the same. 

They could have been twins.

"What the..?" Han blurted out. 

"I'll be damned," Indy said. He recovered first from the shock. "Okay. Let's say I'm your long-lost brother for now, and save the explanations for after we get out of here." During their briefings, Indy had been told this situation might happen – in an infinity of universes, the possibility of encountering an identical double was quite real, even if very small. It appeared this was one of these encounters. But he had no intention of going into it right now. They weren't out of the woods yet.

"What about Leia?" Han repeated.

"My friends will get her out. Trust me, will ya?"

They set off towards the exit. Han was still shaking his head.

"But I never had a brother!"

*****

Doc Savage helped Obi-Wan out of the pit. The battle was mostly over; the surviving smugglers were staying behind cover, and taking unaimed potshots at the intruders. Doc Savage saw Qui-Gon and Xena leading a scantlyclad woman, running towards them.

"We have to get out of here!" Qui-Gon said. "The princess just fed that big thing over there a thermal detonator!"

"We'd better hurry," Doc Savage agreed. A thermal detonator would probably level the entire fortress.

They were the last ones out. Wade had joined Indy and the other prisoners, and they were lying behind a dune. As they dove for cover, the thermal detonator exploded.

The fortress contained most of the explosion, but a shower of debris fell upon the agents and rebels. Smoke and dust engulfed them. Finally, however, it was over.

Leia rose as soon as she could. "Han! Han, where are you?" She stumbled through the smoke, saw a figure getting up nearby. "Han!" She rushed him, and passionately kissed her lover.

"Ah, Leia?" Han said behind her. "I'm over here." She pulled back, releasing a breathless Indiana Jones. Leia looked back and forth between the two. "Han..? Who is this man?"

"It's all right, Leia," Han said. "I'm sure there's a logical explanation."  
Indy, looking rather abashed, took off his jacket. "Here you go, miss. You look… a bit cold."

Leia put on the jacket, and shivered. "I'm sorry, ah…"  
"Jones. Indiana Jones," he said, extending his hand, which seemed somewhat stupid after the kiss, but Leia accepted it. Han Solo stepped forward, and also shook hands with Dr. Jones. As he did, he leaned forward. "Thanks. And, by the way, she's with me."

"No problem," Indiana replied. 

Sometimes the simplest fights against impossible odds got complicated for no apparent reason.

******

Starship Enterprise, Bridge

A TIE fighter flashed past the screen, lasers blazing, and was erased from existence by a phaser beam. 

"Shields down to 73%," Worf reported. The entire ship shook under a direct hit by a Star Destroyer turbolaser. "Down to 68%," the Klingon amended.

"Those lasers are really effective," Riker commented calmly. Lasers had been considered obsolete in the Federation early during the 23rd century. In this world, they had been refined quite a bit, even if they still lacked the range and punch of phasers. The monsters mounted on the Star Destroyers – sixty turbolasers on each ship -- were large enough to make up for their design inefficiency, however. 

The fighters were a dangerous annoyance. Their lasers were very weak, but they forced Picard to keep all shields powered up, which put a heavy energy burden on the ship. If the situation remained unchanged, the Enterprise would be forced to choose between flight or destruction.

"Give them another spread of photon torpedoes," Picard ordered. One of the Destroyers staggered under multiple explosions a few seconds later.

"The first Destroyer has suffered severe damage," Data reported. "All three remain functional, however."

"Time to play the ace?" Riker asked.

"I was about to say that," Picard replied. "Convey my compliments to Captain Nerys."

Behind the Star Destroyers, the Starship Defiant seemed to appear out of nowhere as it dropped its cloaking device. The small but heavily armed ship swooped over the Destroyers like an avenging angel. To survive the fire from the Enterprise, all the Star Destroyers had powered up their frontal shields, and left their rears largely undefended. The rear Star Destroyer went first, devoured by a fiery explosion. The heavily damaged lead ship was next. The last Destroyer fled, using its fighters to fight a rearward action as it maneuvered into hyperspace.

Kira Nerys' face appeared on the screen. "The last enemy fighters are surrendering," she reported. "They appear to be stranded without their motherships."

"They are probably too small to accommodate a hyperspace drive," Picard guessed. "Nicely done, Captain Nerys." The Bajoran smiled, still a bit unused to the new rank.

"Captain, Qui-Gon Jin is hailing us from the shuttle," Data reported. "Their mission has been accomplished." 

"Excellent," Picard said. 

Well begun was half done.


	3. Chapter Three

# Chapter Two

Aboard the Millenium Falcon

Han Solo watched Tatooine recede on the view-screen. "I hope this is the last I see of that Jawa-infested hellhole," he muttered. Han was still too shaky from carbonite exposure to pilot, so Lando was doing the honors. After all this, Han was probably end up giving the Millenium Falcon to Lando. The old pirate had earned it.

Solo turned away from the view-screen and turned his attention to Leia and the two Jedi. The others --including Han's double -- were in their own ship, a tubby shuttle with little in the way of looks, but with impressive shields and weapon systems for a ship its size. Han was glad Indiana Jones wasn't around at the moment. He was having enough trouble dealing with what the Jedi were saying.

The Obi-Wan Kenobi Han had known was a wise old man whose quiet competence had greatly impressed the smuggler. Han had seen that Kenobi die aboard the Death Star. And now he was looking at a younger version from another universe. Han had a good working knowledge of physics -- you couldn't maintain a hyperdrive engine without it -- so he was familiar with the "many worlds" theory. Hyperspace was, in effect, a different universe, one where the laws of relativity could be bent to the breaking point. He'd never expected to see visitors from another reality, though. Especially when they were younger versions of people he knew -- or strangers who looked exactly like him.

"So that is how the Republic fell," Qui-Gon Jin said, after Leia finished her tale. The princess nodded grimly. "Amazing. Who would have thought we were so weak that Palpatine's machinations could destroy us so easily?" According to Leia's tale, the Qui-Gon of this reality had died fighting a Sith warrior, a puppet of Palpatine. He had been spared knowing that everything he had fought so hard to protect would be destroyed in a few decades. 

"So what is it to you?" Han broke in. Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan looked at him, and Leia gave him her typical "Do you have to be so rude" glare. "I'm sure your world turned out fine, so why are you helping us? Not that I'm ungrateful, or anything," he hastened to add. "But nobody does anything out of the goodness of their hearts." Well, usually. Rescuing him was clearly an exception. And come to think of it, he had done something equally stupid instead of rushing back to Jabba's to settle his debts. Maybe the Multiverse was full of idealistic suckers. 

"A fair question," Qui-Gon said. "This time and place is a focal point. The outcome will affect a myriad of timelines, trillions of lives. If the Empire triumphs, the Dark Side of the Force will be supreme. The Empire will soon fall, victim to internal squabbles. Anarchy and chaos will flourish for thousands of years, and the Dark Side will grow even stronger. Humanity and a hundred other races will be driven into extinction, and the galaxy will become a lifeless, barren zone in less than a hundred thousand years. The Eternity Legion is pledged to prevent such an outcome."

"All right, then. Although six people, even if three of them are Jedi, don't seem like enough."

"We brought a bit more than six agents here," Obi-Wan replied. 

"Hey, Han, come take a look!" Lando called out from the cockpit. Han went and saw the starship Enterprise. In the distance, he also saw the burning remnants of two Star Destroyers, and yet another ship.

"I'll be damned," he whispered to himself.

*****

Starship Enterprise

Ten-Forward Lounge

Ensign Quinn Mallory took a swig of his synthehol beer and waited. He was sitting by himself at a table in Ten-Forward, the Enterprise's official bar. Sooner or later, Wade would be finished with her debriefing, and she would join him here. It had been harder than he'd expected, watching the woman he loved go on her first mission without him by her side. But he supposed he must get used to it. She was a Jedi now, able to lift a car in the air by sheer force of will, or to cut through a starship's hull with her light saber. Some of the assignments for which she was qualified had no place for a former dimension-hopper scientist guy. 

Quinn finished off his drink, wishing for the real stuff. 

The main doors opened, and a beautiful woman walked. Not Wade, unfortunately, but Quinn could not help smiling and returning Gabrielle's effusive wave. The girl from Mythic Greece could cheer up a funeral procession. "You're waiting too," she said. "Mind some company?"

"Please."

Gabrielle sat down at his table after getting a tall glass of something with an umbrella on it. "They should be coming here pretty soon," she said.

"Probably after the medical check-up," Quinn agreed. Gabrielle was as eager to see Xena as he was to see Wade, he knew. "I wish I'd been with them."

"Me too," Gabrielle agreed. "The Captain decided that more than one shuttle might have attracted too much attention from the locals."  
"I know, I know," Quinn said, still looking glum.

"You're used to be the one protecting her," Gabrielle said, looking him in the eye. It wasn't a question.

"If it wasn't for me, Wade would have led a normal life on our Earth. I'm responsible for anything that happens to her."

"Quinn, she could have chosen to return to a normal life when the Legion contacted us. You cannot claim responsibility for her choosing to become a Jedi."

"But she has those powers only because the Cro-Mags experimented on her. It's…" Quinn shrugged and forced himself to smile. "Tell you what, I'll spare you the whining self-pity if you tell me any interesting news you might have heard."

"Deal." Gabrielle sipped her drink before continuing. "Just before we left, I heard that Sarah Connor and Duncan McLeod are getting serious." 

"I knew that. I'm the one who recommended Beachworld to them when they went on leave together." Beachworld was an alternate Earth where a mad genius had released a chemical in the atmosphere that eliminated all violent impulses on people. The resulting world had become a peace-loving paradise, largely devoted to such pastimes as surfing, suntans, the arts, and transcendental meditation, sort of a super-mellow California. The Eternity Legion had saved the planet when a primitive version of the Borg came knocking, and the world was now the unofficial vacation spot for agents on leave. "But I was hoping for news, not gossip."

"Gossip is news," she replied with an infectious grin. "But if you're not interested, I won't tell you who Maggie is seeing now."

Quinn leaned forward. Maggie Beckett and him had been more than friends before. Although he had chosen Wade in the end, he was interested despite himself. "Who? Xander?"

"Guess again."

"Indy?"

"Nah." 

"Okay, don't tell me."

"I've learned all about reverse psychology, Quinn. Don't try your 20th century voodoo on me," Gabrielle said. 

Quinn conceded defeat. "I could name every eligible man in the Legion, but when you add the crews of the Enterprise and the Defiant, it's going to take a while. So I give up."

"Iolus."

"Iolus?" Hercules' sidekick? "When?"

"It was a foxhole romance. Literally. They hooked up during that mission in World War I, the one with the nuke on the Western Front. They got caught behind enemy lines, spent the night in an abandoned trench and, well, you can fill in the rest."

"Thanks for sparing me the details. Is it serious?" Over the last couple of years, there had been quite a bit of casual relationships among the agents. It was the nature of the job. Coming face to face with death did wonderful things for one's libido. All in all, Quinn would trade a boring sex life for a better chance at living out his natural life span, though.

"Iolus thinks so. You'll have to ask Maggie to find out where she stands. I'm not that close to her," Gabrielle concluded.

And apparently, neither am I, Quinn didn't say. Of course, it would be too much to expect Maggie to confide personal stuff like this to Quinn, given their past history. Still, he felt a bit disappointed, and hurt. He shook his head. Emotions didn't have to make sense, unfortunately.

Before he could ponder this, the double doors of Ten Forward whiffed open, and Xena, Wade, Indy and three strangers arrived. One of the newcomers looked like Indy's twin brother.

"I can't wait to hear about this mission," Gabrielle said as she went to greet her friends.

*****

Starship Enterprise

Conference Room

It had been a great victory. Picard could find little joy in it, however.

The Enterprise and the Defiant had defeated three capital ships in a brief, brutal engagement. The operation had been a textbook ambush conducted against a superior foe.

It had also resulted in the deaths of over sixty thousand humans.

Each Star Destroyer had a complement of almost forty thousand troops; only a third of each vessel's crew had managed to reach escape pods and evacuate before the ships were catastrophically destroyed. Picard's elation at the victory had vanished in cold realization as the full meaning of the exploding starships sank in.

It is good that war is so terrible, or else we would become fond of it. Many military commanders in history, including the general who had first spoken those words, had come to learn the truth in that phrase.

When he said that out loud, Senator Organa had grimaced. "Don't mourn those sixty thousand, Captain. The Empire's Death Star destroyed my home planet. If you wish to mourn, mourn those innocent millions."

The quiet words were like a slap in the face to the Starfleet captain. "That certainly puts things in perspective, I suppose," he replied. 

"War is terrible, yes," Leia continued. "Defeat in this war is even worse. I will save any regrets or tears for after the war is done."  
Picard nodded slowly. "You have defined the situation most pointedly, Senator Organa. The Eternity Legion is here to help you win this war."

"And for that you have my thanks. We will need all the help we can get." The Senator – and Princess, too, but Picard preferred the non-aristocratic title – took a deep breath before continuing. "The betrayal of Luke Skywalker cost us several bases and supply caches. The Rebellion is on the run. When I left to rescue Han, there were reports that the Empire was working on a second Death Star. A planetoid-sized vessel, capable of shattering an entire world with a single blast from its main weapon."

"That would be a good place to start, then. We must destroy this Death Star."

"Yes. I will contact the rebel leaders. They should know more; I fear that time is of the essence."

"That, my dear lady, is an all too common situation in my experience."

*****

Forest Moon of Endor

Sith Luke closed his eyes, and let the Force wash over him. His preternatural senses reveled in a rich stew of emotions – terror, twisted love, and awe. 

His children had done very well.

They called themselves the Ewoks. Small, furry humanoids with a primitive technology, they had not taken well to the Imperial outposts on their homeworld. Several stormtroopers had bee killed and eaten by the cute but quite deadly natives. 

And then Sith Luke had gone to them. 

The Ewoks had a new god now. He had many names – the Lord of Skulls, the Dark Father, the Master of Torment. The shamans of the new god had made war on the tribes who would not honor him as was his due. Luke had provided his followers with energy weapons; they and the judicious application of the Force here and there – drive a chieftain mad, or slay a recalcitrant witch doctor – had quashed all resistance. The surviving Ewoks – in the week since Luke's arrival, half of the natives had been killed in the brutal Jihad he had led –all worshipped him.

The drums of the Ewoks reverberated all around Luke. The ceremony was almost over; the last sacrificial victim had been killed, his head removed and stripped of all fur and flesh. The polished skull would join the growing bone pyramid at the center of the village. 

The Dark Side pulsed through him in a perfect counter-rhythm with the beating of his heart and the pounding drums. All that power, and all he had to do to get it was to put himself, his wants and desires, above all other things. If he wanted something, Luke would seize it, by force if necessary. To embrace the Dark Side was to surrender to absolute egotism. He reveled in it.

And yet, under the surface pleasure, disquiet stirred within Luke. Something was wrong. Yoda had fallen, and with him all hopes ofdefeating the Emperor and his two Sith warriors. And yet, not all plans were going as planned. Confused reports about the destruction of two Star Destroyers had arrived a few hours before. Darth Vader had not said much, but Luke had sensed his anger – and worry. He did not know the details, but whatever happened had taken place in Tatooine, and it might have involved Leia and Han. 

Luke shuddered. Killing Yoda had been a pleasure. His former friends might be a different matter altogether. A moment later, he dismissed the thought. He would be strong.

Sith Luke stoop up and looked up at the night sky. The Death Star shone overhead like a demonic full moon. 

*****

Starship Enterprise

Wade snuggled next to Quinn. "Are you all right?" Their lovemaking had been wonderful as always, but afterwards, Quinn had seemed to withdraw into himself. He had never been a "Wham bam thank you m'am" kind of guy. Something was bothering him.

"Me? I'm okay. Just thinking about the transporter problem." The tone was a little too casual. Wade had promised herself never to use her Force senses to invade her friends' privacy, but she could tell he wasn't being completely honest with her.

"Come on, Quinn. That's not it. Give it up."

"I thought I just did," he said glibly, putting a hand on her waist. His smile was almost right, but Wade had seen the genuine article enough times to know this wasn't it.

"You know what I mean."

Quinn took a deep breath. The smile vanished, replaced by a somber expression. "I'm not used to feeling useless, that's all."  
"Useless? What are you talking about?"  
"I'm still a primitive barbarian when it comes to Starfleet technology; Giordi and the others, they grew up knowing that half of the things I "knew" were totally wrong. I have to remember to forget most of my training. And as a field agent, I suck. I have no "kewl powerz"," Quinn used the term John Connor, the younger Eternity agent, had coined for the special abilities of some agents."No special training, no super-skills."

"Do you think having "kewl powerz" is a picnic?" Wade snapped. "Look at Hercules. He has to always watch himself, or he could hurt somebody without meaning to. Or Pru Haliwell; if she gets upset she can pull a Carrie all over the place. Or me."

"Or you." He met her gaze for a moment, and then looked down. "Back when we were Sliding, we were a team. Now you are part of the team, and I'm more like the team's water boy."

"Quinn, you are being silly. You are a field agent, same as me."

"I…" Quinn shook his head. "You're right. I'm just being stupid because you went to Tatooine while I was back here working on the damn transporter problem. I'm just being a chauvinistic male idiot."

"Well, stop it," Wade said in mock anger. She snuggled close to him. 

"I'll try." Quinn sounded better, but there was a trace of dubiousness in his tone. Wade hugged him tightly. After all they'd been through, Quinn wouldn't let her powers come between them, would he?

*****

"Well, that could have gone better," Giordi Laforge said in a subdued tone.

"And a supernova is a little hot, Duncan McLeod is a little old, and the Fortress is in the somewhat far future," Quinn said sarcastically. He was angry; he was mostly angry at himself, but that didn't make him any more pleasant to those around him.

Useless.

The object of his displeasure was a cube of pseudo-organic gel, a synthetic material that simulated living tissue. The engineering team had tried an experimental transport, beaming the material a short distance to test Quinn's plan. 

"The damage is extensive, all the way down to the cellular level," Doc Savage reported, looking up from the scanner screen. 

"I can tell," Quinn said through clenched teeth. "It's bad enough all the pseudo-organs were twisted inside out, anyway. The cell damage is just icing on the cake." You couldn't get any deader than dead; if a living being had been transported, his body would have looked like something worked over by a chainsaw and then dipped in hydrochloric acid. 

"It happens, Quinn," Giordi Laforge said soothingly. The experiment had been Quinn's idea; the plan had been to use slider technology to shunt the transporter signal to another universe for a brief moment, avoiding the vacuum fluctuations that made beaming up so dangerous in this universe. In theory, it should have worked. But the melted cube of organic material lying in a semi-solid puddle argued against it.

"It doesn't happen to me," Quinn all but hissed. He had gone over the equations three times, worked the mathematics himself. Professor Arturo had double-checked them, but he had found no fault in them. Neither had the holodeck simulation. They had been working on it for days, even as the Enterprise sailed through warp space to meet with the Rebel Fleet. Transporters could provide a vital advantage, and they had only a short time to make them work.

"I think I know why the sliding process failed," Doc Savage said. The former crime-fighter was all business; Quinn's tantrum affected him as little as the experiment's failure. "The interference applies equally to all near-local universes, and the slider device does not have the para-temporal range to carry the signal further than that."

"So it might be a matter of power input," Giordi said hopefully. "If we can increase the range…"

"The power requirements increase as the square of the quantum differential," Quinn said bitterly. The screen in front of him confirmed his conclusion in seconds. "To move the signal further away would require more energy than the total energy output of the Enterprise. Total output; we're talking shields, propulsion and life support. This was a complete waste of time!" he snapped, slamming a hand on the sensor table.

"Take it easy, Quinn," Giordi said. "We had to try. If your plan had worked, we would have saved a lot of time. Now, we just go back to calibrating the transporter grid. No harm, no foul."

"Okay. I'm sorry, Giordi," Quinn said. "I'm just getting tired of being useless." He glared at the cube.

Something snapped inside his head. Quinn's vision darkened, and he collapsed to the ground like a puppet with his strings cut.

Giordi and Doc Savage rushed to his side. "Laforge to sickbay! We need help here!"

Behind them, unnoticed by the researchers, the organic cube flickered and disappeared for a brief moment, then reappeared again.

*****  
  


"Do not try to strike the drone. You do not need to try. Use the Force, and you will succeed without trying."

Wade nodded, hearing Qui-Gon's words without letting them distract her. The holodeck training program had put her through a frenzied routine of dodging energy blasts and drone moving at bullet speeds. Three times, she hadn't been fast enough: two bruises and a nasty burn were mute reminders of those failures.

She moved without thinking, letting instinct take over. A drone shattered at the touch of her light saber. A fraction of a second later, its companion darted towards her -- or rather, towards the spot she had been occupying. Wade was already elsewhere, propelling herself with the Force in an impossible somersault that propelled her twenty yards in a single bound. Before the last drone had a chance to correct its aim, Wade concentrated for a moment, and crushed it with a thought.

"Computer, end program."

The drones disappeared. Qui-Gon stepped forward, smiling approvingly. "You are doing better, Wade Wells. Your advancement is surprisingly fast, for someone who started training so late in life."

Faint praise was better than none at all, Wade decided. Qui-Gon was a strict but fair teacher. Obi-Wan Kenobi had finished a much harder training routine a few minutes before, fighting a dozen drones instead of the six Wade had handled. He was standing by a corner, watching Wade's test.

"You were distracted, however," Qui-Gon continued. "Something is bothering you, and it is interfering with your skills."

Wade hesitated. Her argument with Quinn was still in her mind. "I'm sorry. I will do better."

Qui-Gon smiled. "I know you can do better. The question is, will you?"

"You were always a hard teacher," Obi Wan said. Except that Obi Wan was right in front of Qui-Gon's eyes, and he hadn't said a word.

They all turned towards the voice. Standing in the middle of the holodeck were an old man and a small wizened creature.

"Yoda!"

"Good again to see you, my friend." Yoda said. It took a moment to realize that neither Yoda nor the old man were corporeal; their forms were vaguely translucent. Their Force auras were unmistakable, however. It truly was Yoda, although an older and wearier version than the one Qui-Gon knew in his home universe. And the old man was the spirit of Obi-Wan Kenobi.

The young Obi-Wan looked at the older version of himself. "So, you are what I'll become," he said breathlessly.

The older Kenobi gently shook his head. "No, Obi-Wan. This is what I became in this world. When I was your age, my teacher had been killed before my eyes. I am the Obi-Wan whose pupils – both of them -- became the greatest threat the galaxy has known." The old man turned his sad gaze towards his younger self. "I am the Obi-Wan whose mistakes I hope you will be strong enough to correct."

*****  
  


Quinn Mallory was sliding away, falling through the twisting light tunnel that had been the only reliable landscape he had known for several years. Falling, falling…

He opened his eyes. 

"Glad to see you're awake," Doctor Beverly Crusher said. 

Quinn looked around. He was lying on a bed in sickbay. "What happened?"

"That's what we're trying to find out," Doctor Crusher said, running a bio-scanner over him. "Your stress level is rather high, but that shouldn't have caused a blackout."

"So what is it, doc? Am I going to live?" Quinn said jokingly. He felt fine, other than the overall frustration that had been with him since this mission had started.

"Have you been eating right? Your bio-energy levels seem low."

"I haven't skipped any meals or anything. No strenuous exercise… well, except at night," he said with a mischievous smile.

"Gentlemen don't kiss and tell," Dr. Crusher chided. "I'm also noting some unusual neural activity…" Doctor Crusher looked at Quinn. "Nobody has ever done a study about the side effects of Sliding. Maybe it's time we should."

"All Eternity Agents slide, don't we?"

"The process we use is far more advanced, though. You and your friends were routinely exposed to sub-space distortions that we have barely studied. Our "leaders" aren't very forthcoming about anything we cannot work out on our own, of course. And you were the most exposed, between your early experiments and the fact that you held the timer most of the time. My scans are triggering some unusual sub-space activity. You seem to be physically all right, but I'd like to hold you over for observation."

"Now? Doc, this really isn't a good time. We need to continue working on the transporter problem. I feel useless enough as it is."

Dr. Crusher sighed. "We really should change the name to the Workaholic Legion. I can't find a concrete medical reason to order you to stay, so you are free to go." As Quinn leapt from the bed, she continued. "But another blackout and you're back here to stay. All right?"

"Fair enough, Doc."

*****

It was good, to be Emperor of the galaxy.

Palpatine the First sat on his throne and meditated, a humanoid spider sitting at the center of web of Force tendrils. Idly, he reached out with his mind. A young Stormtrooper who was having second thoughts about serving the Empire started convulsing in his bunk bed. Palpatine snuffed the man's life with the casual satisfaction one might feel while crushing a mildly annoying bug.

"Not too shabby, if I say so myself."

Palpatine stiffened at the words. Somebody was here with him, in his inner sanctum, past an army of fanatical guards who would die a thousand times for their Emperor. Palpatine looked around, using his mundane sight as well as the Force, and saw the stranger leaning casually against a wall. He was wearing unusual clothing, blue material for his pants and jacket, solid walking boots for his feet. His face was covered by the shadows. And his aura…

In all his life, first as a hidden follower of the Dark Side, and then after assuming his rightful place as ruler of humankind, he had not encountered a power to rival his own. Until now. The gleeful malevolence of the stranger glowed like the corona of a collapsing star. Despite the rush of anger at the daring invasion of his sanctum, Palpatine felt a rush of kinship towards the stranger. "Who are you?" he asked harshly, even as he prepared to strike. Kinship did not guarantee good will, and Palpatine's first impulse was to destroy any possible threat.

"I think in this world, I think I'll be Roden Fell," the stranger said. "Yes, that has a nice ring to it. Hear me out, Palpie. I could save your miserable life."

"Try saving your own!" Palpatine shouted, and struck out. Bolts of force flew from his outstretched hand like a pack of lightning bolts and slammed Roden Fell against the wall. The stranger writhed in pain, and collapsed in a smoking heap. Palpatine stopped the onslaught; such applications of the Force were wearisome, even to him.

"I guess you needed to get that out of your system," Roden Fell said as he rose to his feet. The Emperor's eyes widened, and he felt fear for the first time in many years. "Oh, don't worry. If you keep it up, you'll probably kill me, more or less." Palpatine finally saw the face of the stranger, and he recoiled like a boy coming face to face with a snake. "But believe you me, good buddy, you wouldn't be far behind me. I'm here to save your miserable life."

"What do you want?" Palpatine replied immediately. Nobody did favors without expecting some reward.

"You are a sharp one, Palpie," Roden Fell said. "Right now, all I want is what you want. Death to your enemies. You've got yourself a whole new batch of 'em. Took out a couple of your big Star Destroyers, didn't you hear?"

Vader had given Palapatine the news a few days ago. Moff Derwan's report had been rambling and not very informative – a rebel fleet had allegedly ambushed Derwarn's task force in Tatooine. Vader had disposed of Derwan himself, and then obtained the truth. The "rebel fleet" consisted of two ships. A new type of vessel, perhaps. The Mon Calamari were expert shipwrights, and their entire race supported the Rebellion. "What do you know about this?" he demanded.

"The ships involved have come a long way to take you out, your Emperorship. I met them in another life. The details are a bit blurry, but I know they royally fucked me over. They didn't get me, though. Us bad pennies have a nasty habit of turning up again."

"Perhaps we can reach some sort of agreement," Palpatine said tentatively. Whoever this impudent stranger was, he sounded very useful. Total victory was almost within reach, and the Emperor would use whatever tools were available. And would discard them when they were no longer needed.

Roden Fell smiled widely. "You know, Palpie? I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."


	4. Chapter Four

Chapter Three 

Aboard the Imperial Shuttle Tydirium

"Command station, Shuttle Tyridium requesting deactivation of the reflector shield."

"Shuttle Tyridum, transmit clearance code."

Han Solo took a deep breath and transmitted the stolen code. "Here goes nothing." Leia, sitting on the co-pilot seat, squeezed his hand reassuringly. 

"Shuttle Tyridium, shield has been deactivated. Continue on your present course."

"Understood." Han switched off the communicator and slumped on his seat. "We're through. I really didn't think we'd make it."  
Chewbacca growled at Han. "Sorry, Chewie. Getting pressed into a slab of carbonite does things to a guy's outlook."

"We got you out, didn't we?" Leia said with a smile. "I'm going to let our passengers know we're free and clear." Leia rose from her seat and headed for the cargo area. Inside, checking their weapons and equipment, were the Eternity Agents. Xena and her friend Gabrielle were sitting closely together; the Warrior Princess looked relaxed, almost sleepy, the calm of a seasoned veteran before combat. A respectful distance away, Doc Savage finished reassembling his phaser rifle. Indiana Jones was cleaning his archaic pistol, although a phaser gun was on his belt. Lieutenant Worf looked up when Leia entered; he had been sharpening a wicked-looking dagger. Wade Wells and Quinn Mallory were sitting together; Quinn was checking the programming Artoo-Deetoo would use to break through the security systems at the shield generator that protected the Death Star. Five Rebel commandoes rounded up the strike team. 

"We're through the shield," Leia announced. Everybody nodded appreciatively. This was the trickiest – if not necessarily the hardest – part of the mission. Sending a team of raiders to destroy the shield projector protecting the Death Star was an indispensable part of the mission. They had a stolen Imperial code to get through, but failure would get them shot out of the sky before anyone in the shuttle could do anything about it. "We should make landfall in less than an hour."

Wade froze suddenly. "I can sense them," she said softly. Quinn put a hand on her shoulder, but she seemed to be on a trance. "They are on the Death Star, watching, waiting for us… They are strong, very strong…" Wade shuddered.

"Take it easy," Quinn said gently. "We knew they'd be here. That's what the Second Team is for."

Wade nodded and looked at Quinn. "I'm worried about them more than about us."

Unmolested, the shuttle continued its descent towards the forest moon of Endor.

*****  
  


Death Star Docking Station 17

The transport was unloaded quickly and efficiently. Some of the containers were taken to the construction sites where the Death Star remained unfinished. Others were put in storage, in one of the hundreds of warehouses that held the supplies for the teeming thousands workers and soldiers in the planetoid-sized vessel. It was business as usual.

At least, that is, until one of the containers opened from the inside and three Eternity agents emerged from it. 

Obi-Wan Kenobi looked around apprehensively. "So far, so good." His voice did not hold a lot of conviction.

Qui-Gon Jin nodded distractedly. "The Emperor is here. And his two Sith warriors."

"Will they be able to detect our presence?" Obi-Wan asked.

"Eventually. But that is part of our mission, to distract them to allow the strike team to complete its task." He turned to the last team member. "And even if we are discovered, you will not be."

"Indeed. I have no detectable psionic aura," Data said calmly. "My positronic brain does not register on anything resembling a human scale, so I should be quite safe from your Jedi adversaries."

"Not Jedi. The total opposite of Jedi," Obi-Wan said. The long conversation with Yoda and Ben Kenobi – the name his older self had taken for himself – still echoed in his mind. Obi-Wan would never be able to look at Yoda – the Yoda in his universe – in the same way again. After hearing the tale, Obi-Wan could not help placing the blame on the old teacher. Had Yoda accepted Annakin Skywalker, would this tragedy have happened? Or would Palpatine's machinations have worked nonetheless? In his world, Qui-Gon had unmasked Senator Palpatine as the treacherous criminal he truly was. In this world, Qui-Gon had died, struck down by a Sith serving then Senator Palpatine – now the Emperor.

"It will not happen again," Obi-Wan muttered to himself.

*****

"Someone is here," Sith Luke said.

"You sense them as well?" Darth Vader replied. "You are learning quickly, my son. Two adepts in the Force have entered the Death Star." The Sith Lord considered for a moment. "Two Jedi, as a matter of fact. Very strong, and somehow -- familiar."

"I cannot find them," Luke said angrily. "I sense their presence, but they are hiding somehow."

"Yes. But there is something else. Another group is heading towards Endor." Vader reached out with the Force. "There is a Jedi among them, but not as strong as the ones here. Very cunning – I could have easily missed the lesser presence."

"Not good enough, though," Roden Fell said, entering the room where father and son had been meditating. Sith Luke scowled at the newcomer. Roden Fell had gained the favor of the Emperor quickly and inexplicably. That would have been troubling enough, but the stranger was disrespectful and there was something… disturbing about him. Roden Fell reminded Luke of a poisonous snake hiding within a flower arrangement, danger hiding behind a pleasant façade. 

"Begone, little man," Darth Vader said. "You were not summoned, and you are not needed here."

Rode Fell laughed. "Touchy, aren't you?" He paused for a moment, that glowing smile still pasted on his face. The Sith Lord and the Walking Dude looked into each other's eyes, holding their stares steady.

Sith Luke sensed anger in his father, tinged with… uncertainty? Luke had thought Darth Vader was the epitome of evil… until he had met the Emperor. And now, Roden Fell seemed to provide him with yet another paragon of darkness, one more subtle and insidious. 

"Look, we've got a couple of problems," Roden said, dropping his smile and becoming businesslike. "Three, to be exact. There is a whooping big Rebel Fleet poised to strike the Death Star. There's a team of saboteurs inside the Death Star. And there's another team heading to Endor to shut down the force field generator."

"How do you know all of this?" Luke blurted.

"The fleet? Imperial intelligence just informed the Emperor. The intruders aboard the Death Star? The same way you found them – I sniffed them. 'Fi Fa Foom, I smell the blood of an Englishman.'" Fell chuckled at his own nonsensical phrase. "The third team? Well, they want to take the Death Star. Wouldn't you send somebody to turn off the force field?"

"We have to do something!" Luke said.

"Give the boy a big cee-gar," Roden sneered. "We'll take care of them, don't sweat it."

Roden's smile became inhumanly wide, his good humor shining through like a radioactive pile about to become critical.

"We'll take real good care of them."

*****

Forest Moon of Endor

The verdant forests of Endor loomed over the small group like an emerald cathedral. Exotic animal noises echoed in the distance; the local fauna had fallen silent as the intruders approached.

Han Solo carefully peeked from behind one of the gigantic trees that dominated the landscape. There was little in the way of undergrowth, but the trees were so numerous that you could not see more than a hundred feet before the forest obscured everything. The team had reached a small clearing, and Han looked around for some moments before waving the group forward. The small commando unit fanned out, Eternity agents and Rebel soldiers, weapons ready.

The landing had proceeded without trouble. A small detachment of Imperial Stormtroopers had been waiting for the shuttle, and the team had taken them out in a few seconds. Now all they had to do was reach the generator complex. 

"The field generator should be about three hundred meters that way." Han Solo said, looking back at the rest of the commando unit. Chewie sniffed the air and growled softly. "What is it, Chewie?"

"Something is near," Wade Wells whispered. "Something wrong."  
The fifteen members of the commando unit looked apprehensively around them. The quiet, shadowy forest seemed to grow darker and more sinister. 

Quinn looked at his tricorder. It had been clear, except for small lifeforms. Now the screen showed nothing but static. "Someone's jamming my sensors," he warned the team. Too late.

They seemed to come out of nowhere, small furry creatures that had until moments before been seamlessly camouflaged against the trees and bushes. Some were still armed with their traditional weapons – spears and bolos and nets – but many more wielded Imperial blaster carbines with lethal expertise. 

The unit had been caught in the open ground between two forest giants, with little cover. The Rebel soldiers on the flanks were cut down before they could react.  Solo knocked Leia to the ground, barely avoiding a deadly fusillade. Blaster bolts scorched the ground all around them, pinning them in place. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Chewie make a prodigious leap to the nearest tree, which provided him some cover. The Wookie started firing his bolt caster with deadly efficiency. 

Even taken by surprise, the Eternity Agents were no easy prey. Xena's chakram was in the air  instants after the shooting started. Half a dozen Ewoks went down with concussions or cracked skulls by the time the weapon returned to her hand. Agents with phasers unleashed a firestorm of energy upon their attackers, some on stun, others set to full disrupt. The entire first wave of Ewoks went down. Unfortunately, there were too many of them. Return fire, wildly inaccurate but as heavy as a monsoon, fell upon the group.

"Xena!" Gabrielle screamed as the Warrior Princess fell, transfixed by a burst of blaster fire. Gabrielle knelt over her friend and returned fire with frantic intensity. She did not notice the three small figures charging her from behind until they clubbed her unconscious. Her personal force field barely saved her from a fractured skull as the Ewoks smashed her again and again, gibbering with malicious glee.

Worf vaporized a small knot of Ewoks with a series of phaser shots, before he was hit. He was still trying to fire when two more blasts slammed him to the ground.

Doc Savage reacted with inhuman speed. He leaped up and swung from a low-hanging branch, five yards above him. From his perch he fired several shots, but the return fire was too heavy. Climbing with the strength and agility of an ape, the Man of Bronze disappeared into the tree canopy. Blaster discharges following him all the way, gouging large chunks of the giant tree.

By chance, Indiana Jones, Quinn Mallory and Wade Wells had been closely together when the ambush went down. Wade covered her two companions with her light saber; she moved in a blur, deflecting blaster bolts, sometimes bouncing them right back at their attackers. Indiana and Quinn knelt and fired their personal weapons, guarding Wade's flanks. Between the three of them, they actually stalled the second wave for a few moments. 

It couldn't last, however. "We have to break out of here!" Jones shouted. He emptied his revolver, knocking down three Ewoks on the left flank and creating a temporary opening. "Follow me!"

Indiana Jones rushed forward towards the cover of the forest. Quinn and Wade covered his retreat, and when he reached a tree, he started firing his phaser to cover them in turn. "Come on!" The Jedi Knight and the Slider dashed in Indiana Jones' direction. They barely made it. 

"Now what?" Quinn said. The giant tree offered a temporary retrieve, but he could see the little humanoids swarming on both sides. There were almost surrounded. From their positions, they saw the Ewoks overrun the rest of the team. Han Solo and Leia managed to knock down a few of the creatures before they disappeared under thrown nets and a crowd of furiously clubbing figures. Chewie lasted a little longer, but he could not look in every direction and one and he, too, was overwhelmed.

"We can't stay here." Wade said. "Let's go!"

The last three members of the commando unit ran for it, firing at the rapidly-closing Ewoks. They didn't get far. 

They reached a clearing and froze when an Imperial All Terrain Scout Transport, strode into view on its stork-like legs. Imperial Stormtroopers marched around it, headed towards the ambush site to finish what their Ewok servants had started.

"Oh, crap," Quinn whispered.

The AT-ST swiveled towards them. Its twin cannon spat blaster fire.

*****

Starship Enterpise

"No, Admiral Ackbar," Captain Picard said. "The raiding team has not reported yet."  
Admiral Ackbar was the supreme commander of the Rebel Fleet tasked to destroy the Death Star. His features were still too alien for Picard to read them accurately – Ackbar's species had never evolved to sentience in the Federation's universe – but his agitation was evident. 

"We cannot stay here much longer, Captain Picard," Ackbar asserted. "Every minute we tarry, we risk detection. We must choose between striking now or withdrawing."

Picard nodded in agreement. The fact that withdrawal would doom the Eternity agents in the two teams sent to Endor could not enter into the equation. "I believe we must strike, Admiral," he said finally. "If the Death Star is built, the Empire will destroy your forces eventually. The mere threat of planetary destruction will force most of your supporters to surrender."

"Yes. It is not a palatable choice, Captain, but it appears to be the only one available." Ackbar sighed, an eerily humanlike sound. "Perhaps your weapons will be able to pierce the force field, or your second team will succeed in damaging the Death Star on its own. In either case, our casualties will be heavy, but this is our best chance to end the war."

"We will take that chance right along with you, Admiral."

"Indeed. We leave immediately, then. Ackbar out."  
Picard gave the order, and the Enterprise moved to take its place at the vanguard of the Rebel Fleet. The lack of response from the raiding team was worrisome, but they had planned for the possibility the force field protecting the Death Star was still in place. Giordi had reconfigured five photon torpedoes, increasing their yield a hundredfold. They might knock down the shield – after studying the technology of the first Death Star, Giordi gave them a 75% chance. Otherwise the team inside the Death Star would try to cause its power reactors to overload. Data was charged with that mission, with the understanding that escape would be difficult, if not impossible. The transporters were still not fully operational; they would use them if there was no other choice, but Giordi had warned that using the transporters would almost certainly be just another form of death.

Picard's expression did not change, but Counselor Troy glanced at him with concern, sensing his inner turmoil.

*****

Death Star 

The Imperial Stormtroopers' footsteps clattered down the corridor like a hard rain on a tile roof. The entire station was on highest alert, and the soldiers scanned the corridor with the utmost care, ready to stop anyone who did not seem to belong, and to open fire if any suspect did not surrender immediately.

The patrol walked past the two Jedi knights without seeing them. Their eyes slid past the pair as if they were not there, and the troopers marched on, blissfully unaware.

Qui-Gon exhaled the breath he had been holding. "That was too close for comfort, Obi-Wan."

"Do you think our use of the Force alerted our enemies?" 

"It is very likely. It took a great deal of effort to manipulate so many minds at once. But that is part of the mission, of course, to gain our foes' attention."

"The Sith are still here," Obi-Wan said as the pair entered a small maintenance tunnel. "I sense their presence, and that of their master."

"Palpatine," Qui-Gon pronounced the name like a curse. "We will deal with him in due time."  
Obi-Wan nodded, although he felt a lot less confident than his teacher. In this world, Palpatine had outsmarted and outmaneuvered the Republic and the Jedi with amazing ease. His Sith minion had been trained by Obi-Wan himself – the Obi-Wan of this timeline, older and wiser than Obi-Wan was now, and yet unable to best his pupil in combat. Confusion, rage and turmoil made it hard for the Jedi to find a balance. Obi-Wan felt fury growing in him. He struggled against it, knowing that anger would doom him. 

Qui-Gon put a hand on Obi-Wan's shoulder. "It's not easy, is it?"

"Not to hate the men who destroyed everything we hold sacred? Yes, master. It is not easy at all."

"Remind yourself that these men acted out of hatred themselves. Their fear and hatred drove them to use their skills to destroy rather than create. That is the road they chose for themselves. Will you follow them there?"

Obi-Wan shook his head violently. Qui-Gon smiled faintly. "I see you understand. Sometimes we must do violence unto others. But to surrender to hatred leads to replacing one evil with another." The Jedi master paused for a moment. "But I have to admit I will feel a measure of satisfaction when we are finished here. But for now, let us keep our enemies busy."

"We'll run in circles around them," Obi-Wan said. "Hopefully our friends will put the time we gain them to good use."

*****

Forest Moon of Endor

The heavy energy blasts shattered the ground and carved deep trenches into the forest floor. Dirt and burning leaves peppered Quinn Mallory's back. He blinked, shook his head and looked behind him. The smoldering hole where the walker's energy blasts had struck was a good thirty feet away. Indiana Jones had rolled away just in time, and Wade had also managed to dodge the attack.

Quinn had no idea how he had gotten to where he was. Maybe the blast had flung him there.

No time to think about it. The Imperial walker had not scored a kill, but it was moving forward. Quinn could see stormtroopers fanning out on both sides of the AT-ST, and two more walkers further back.

The ambush had been perfect. The native auxiliaries had sprung the trap, and the Imperial troops were slamming it shut. 

Quinn looked frantically for a way out. A fusillade of blaster beams followed Wade as she ran for cover, her light saber describing a whirlwind of energy. Even a Jedi could not stop so many blasts at once, however. Quinn's eyes widened in horror as two blasts scored. The Legion's force field saved her from instant death, but she fell.

"No!" Quinn struggled to his feet, unmindful of the enemy fire probing for him. Wade, he had to reach Wade…

Space twisted around him. For a brief moment, Quinn felt the familiar falling sensation that accompanied a Slide. He landed with a thud right next to Wade. 

The Imperials may have been surprised by Quinn's sudden arrival, but their reaction was dictated by training, not their state of mind. Before Quinn could do more than touch Wade, several blasts hit him. His personal force field reflected most of the energy away from him, but enough got through. The impacts felt like being hit by red-hot crowbars.

As the world dissolved into fiery darkness, Quinn had time for a last thought.

I guess I got some kewl powerz after al, for all the good they… 

*****

"I didn't know he could do that," Indiana Jones muttered. Quinn had… teleported to Wade's sight. Not that it had done any good for him.

Maybe some good – blue flash Quinn had generated when using his new trick had distracted the stormtroopers. Indy leaped for cover. "I think I'm the last one," he muttered. 

Something flashed past him. A hoverbike, an Imperial trooper aboard. It was followed by others. A squadron of the fast-moving vehicles was moving in. They were apparently using them to make sure no stragglers escaped the ambush.

"Mind if I hitch a ride?" Indy said, holstering his gun and grabbing his whip.

When the next hoverbike flew past, Indy moved. The whip wrapped itself around a protuberance on the bike's rear. The sudden jolt when the bike yanked him off his feet nearly dislocated his shoulder, and then he was airborne. If the bike had been flying a few feet lower, he'd have been dragged on the ground instead of lifted up; he still might end up there, if he didn't hurry up. 

Indy dragged himself closer to the bike. The pilot turned around, trying to see what had snagged his vehicle, and saw Indy clambering onto the back seat. He reached for his blaster. Indy's fist caught the side of his helmet before he could bring the energy gun to bear. With strength born of desperation, Jones flung the semi-conscious soldier aside and grabbed the handlebars just in time to veer away from a tree. The impact as the stormtrooper hit the ground was drowned by the hoverbike's engines. 

Who the hell had thought using these vehicles made sense? Indy was flying through a maze of gigantic trees. His training in Imperial weapons and vehicles was enough to let him pilot the damn thing, barely. A burst of blaster fire burning the air right over his head him told him the other bikes had noticed him. Indy risked a quick glance behind him. Three Imperial hoverbikes were in hard pursuit, gaining on him. 

"This is great," Indy hissed through clenched teeth. "Just great."


	5. Chapter Five

[Author's Note: Sorry for the long delay -- my work (I actually write professionally under a different pen name) and Real Life have conspired to keep me away from these stories. Two-three more chapters to go, and then it's off to From Dusk to Eternity, featuring Buffy, Blade, assorted Eternity Legion agents and the casts of From Dusk to Dawn and John Carpenter's Vampires.  
  
Chapter Five  
  
Starship Enterprise  
  
"We have a visual on the Imperial Fleet, Captain."  
  
"On screen."  
  
The huge armada filled the screen. Dozens of Star Destroyers, hundreds of auxiliary craft, thousands of fighters. And, looming in the background, the Death Star. In terms of sheer size, Picard had seen few structures that could match the artificial planetoid. As to its power, he would soon know how it compared with such juggernauts as the Borg cubes. The technical readouts had been impressive enough; even an incomplete Death Star would be quite the challenge.  
  
"How long until we're detected?"  
  
"We'll be entering maximum coverage in about seven minutes," Worf replied. Picard found himself missing the hyper-competent Data, but he was a necessary -- and indispensable -- part of the third team, and he had a feeling everything hinged on the performance of that team. There had been no word from the Endor commando; they had to be presumed lost, likely captured, probably dead. A part of Picard refused to acknowledge the possibility; the Eternity Agents were among the most resourceful people in a myriad universes, and their companions were equally gifted. If anybody could snatch victory out of the jaws of defeat, it was them.  
  
The question was, would they be able to do so in time?  
  
Forest Moon of Endor  
  
This is the way the world ends.  
  
Unconsciousness was bliss. Pain lapped its edges, trying to overwhelm the cool oblivion and drag him screaming back into reality. He resisted; a part of him feared what awaited him when he woke up.  
  
"This is the way the world ends," he muttered as, despite himself, he began to stir. Why was he thinking about that poem?  
  
Quinn Mallory opened his eyes.  
  
"Not with a bang but a whimper," Wade Wells finished the quote.  
  
Reality was an assault of the senses. Shadows and lights struggled for supremacy. Quinn could smell cold, damp earth, rich and organic; campfires, lots of them, burning seasoned wood somewhere nearby; and a strange animal musk. Drums were beating in the distance, hundreds of them; their rhythms reverberated through his body, making him vaguely ill.  
  
"Where...?"  
  
"Some sort of village," Wade answered. Quinn looked around. He and Wade and were bound to a gigantic tree with crude vegetable fiber ropes. Hand Solo, Leia and Gabrielle were tied up to another tree, not too far away. Gabrielle was still unconscious. Quinn couldn't see any others, but he thought they were nearby, in the same situation. Some heroes we are, he thought bitterly.  
  
"Are you all right, Wade?" he asked her.  
  
Wade gave him a small half-smile. "Some burns and bruises. The force fields absorbed the worst of it. You?"  
  
"Same. We've got to get out of here." He started struggling against the ropes. One of the furry natives emerged from the shadows, gibbering menacingly and gesturing with a spear. Quinn froze.  
  
"They're keeping a close watch on us," Wade whispered. "The Imperial troops have withdrawn. When I woke up, the last Imperials were leaving. For some reason, they've left us with these teddy bears from hell."  
  
"They probably figure whatever these critters do to us will be worse than anything they can think of." Squinting into the dying light, Quinn saw a pyramid of skulls in the distance. "I think they had a point."  
  
**********  
  
"That was some ride," Indiana Jones muttered as he walked away from the burning wreckage of the Imperial hover-bike. The chase had lasted for a long time, an insane roller-coaster at dizzying speed, dodging and weaving through the massive trees. One of the Imperials hadn't maneuvered fast enough and had ended up splattered all over the forest floor. The other two and nearly shot Indy's ride to pieces, until a fourth bike had shown up and struck them from behind. The unexpected rescue hadn't arrived in time to save Indy's bike from being disabled by a blaster shot. If he hadn't been able to use his whip to swing clear of the bike, Indy would have become one with the forest, and not in a nice holistic way.  
  
Doc Savage stopped his own purloined hover-bike in front of his colleague. "Dr. Jones," he said.  
  
"Dr. Savage," Indy replied. Doc was a good many things, but an entertaining conversationalist wasn't one of them. "That was good timing."  
  
"Your spur-of-the-moment plan had some merit, so I chose to imitate it," the Man of Bronze said. "We must make a difficult decision, however."  
  
Indy nodded, inwardly dreading what he knew was coming. "Do we try to save our friends, or do we try to carry out the mission? Yeah, I know. A real doozy." He fully expected Doc to err on the side of logic; they didn't have any time to waste, and saving the rest of the team, even if they were still alive, would take too long.  
  
"I believe we should see if we can effect a rescue operation," Doc Savage continued. "What's your opinion, Doctor Jones?"  
  
Indy's jaw dropped. "I thought I'd have to try and talk you into it."  
  
"I don't think the two of us have a reasonable chance to destroy the facility, given the Imperials' current state of alert. A rescue attempt may prove to be unfeasible, but we should at least assay it, don't you agree?"  
  
"You betcha."  
  
"Then if you don't mind riding pillion, we should get going."  
  
**********  
  
The teddy bears from hell were cannibals, apparently. Or something like that; Quinn didn't know if cannibalism was the right term if you were eating a person from a different species. Either way, it wasn't good.  
  
"Xena!" Gabrielle screamed, pulling against her bonds. The Warrior Princess was still unconscious. Her body hung limply from as the Ewoks lashed her to a long stick -- a cooking spit, apparently. Other little furries were stoking a large fire. Maybe unconsciousness was a mercy.  
  
"Could this suck any more?" Quinn muttered through clenched teeth.  
  
"I tried using the Force while you were unconscious," Wade said, "but some of these critters have been attuned to it, and they prodded me with spears until I stopped."  
  
"This is getting better and better."  
  
The fire was getting hot enough Quinn could feel it even from where he was. Xena was going to be cooked alive by a bunch of murderous stuffed toys. The former Slider looked around, hoping for a rescue, anything. Indiana Jones and Doc Savage were still at large, but two against a whole tribe wasn't the best odds.  
  
But there was something else, wasn't it? Something he could do. Something that scared him almost as badly as being killed by tiny cannibal monsters.  
  
"Wade." He pulled one his bound wrists until he managed to grab one of her hands. She squeezed it almost painfully. "I think I can get us out of here, and then we can save Xena."  
  
"What are you talking about?"  
  
"Dr. Crusher was telling me she got some strange readings off me, some sort of side effect of all the Sliding we used to do. I."  
  
"Quinn," Wade said. "If you can do something, do it NOW."  
  
Xena had been placed over the fire.  
  
"Crap." Quinn grabbed Wade, concentrated. "There's no place like home," he whispered. That didn't work. "Shazam?" Nope.  
  
Xena's armor started to smolder. The heat was waking her up; she stirred against her bonds, but her eyes were still closed. Gabrielle screamed at the top of her lungs, and the Ewoks chattered contentedly.  
  
"Quinn."  
  
"Shit." Do it. Do it! Quinn tried to visualize the jump. Wade had been in danger, and he had wanted, had needed to be someplace else.  
  
Something snapped in his head. He felt himself falling through a Sliding tunnel. The damp ground slapped him in the face. There was a weight on his back. He twisted around; the ropes holding him fell away, and as he looked, he discovered why. He had teleported himself, Wade and a chunk of the tree; that had effectively cut off their bonds.  
  
"How did you do that?" Wade said.  
  
"I won't bore you with the technical details," Quinn replied, struggling to his feet. "Besides, we don't have the time. Xena's cooking out there!"  
  
"Can you bring us back?" They were at the clearing where they had been ambushed.  
  
"I'd better, I guess." Hopefully this would get better with practice. He should be feeling elated, he supposed, now that he had super-powers all of a sudden. Right now he was just too worried about screwing up.  
  
He held on tightly to Wade. All right. Visualize the bonfire. No, not the bonfire; he didn't want to land in the middle of it. Next to it. And. push.  
  
He landed right where he wanted. The Ewoks were all looking at the spot where he and Wade had disappeared. Good. He punched one of the fuzzies rotating Xena over the cooking fire. Wade gestured towards a pile of captured weapons, and her light saber jumped into her hands. She wielded it in a deadly spiral, and two Ewoks fell away, limbs seared away.  
  
No time to untie her. Quinn grabbed the spit, held onto Wade, and pushed again.  
  
His head throbbed painfully, and he found it hard to concentrate. They were back at the clearing. Xena looked up at her rescuers. "Well, will you untie me, or what? We need to rescue the others."  
  
In the distance, Quinn heard the distinctive sound of a phaser beam.  
  
"I think other people are working on it," he replied.  
  
**********  
  
"I didn't know he could do that," Doc Savage muttered as Quinn disappeared with Xena and Wade. He used the distraction to good effect, however, phasering the Ewoks as they tried to react to the sudden appearances and disappearances. The camp was utter chaos; some of the Ewoks were shooting at each other in their confusion.  
  
Indiana Jones crept towards the prisoners. Every time an Ewok came close enough to detect his approach, Doc Savage shot it down. Quinn's escape had made their job a lot easier, but they were still dealing with a couple hundred angry cannibals.  
  
Quinn reappeared, Xena and Wade in tow, right next to the weapon pile. Xena and Wade cut through all the nearby natives while the Slider grabbed a phaser rifle and fired a wide stun beam, knocking down dozens of Ewoks.  
  
That was enough for the rest. They broke and ran, except for a few holdouts that were easily dealt with. A few minutes later, the remaining Eternity agents were free. Gabrielle embraced Xena. "I thought this was the end," she whispered, smiling through her tears. Han Solo shook Indy's hand. "That's another one I owe you." Han looked uncomfortable saying the words, but he was clearly determined to be fair about things.  
  
"My pleasure," Indy replied awkwardly, feeling as if he was talking to a mirror. Leia and Indy exchanged an uneasy glance, then looked away.  
  
"Well, time to get back to work," Jones said.  
  
**********  
  
Starship Enterprise  
  
"Fire at will."  
  
The Enterprise exploded in a kaleidoscope of phasers and photon torpedoes as the Rebel fleet struggled to break through the defensive screen of Star Destroyers masking the unfinished Death Star. The Imperials had been waiting for them, however, and were in full battle array. The Rebel ships ran into them like waves smashing against an unyielding reef.  
  
"The Defiant has breached the enemy defenses, captain," Worf reported. A Star Destroyer exploded, struck on its unshielded rear once again. That trick would not work again, Picard knew, but hopefully once was all they needed.  
  
"Unto the breach!"  
  
The Enterprise dived in between two Star Destroyers, lashing at their weakly shielded sides, even as more Rebel ships followed in its wake and poured their broadsides into the Imperial vessels. One of the Destroyers broke apart in flames. The other reeled away, and suddenly there was nothing between the Rebels and the Death Star beyond a thin screen of fighters.  
  
That, and the still functional shield, that is.  
  
"Captain, I'm detecting a power surge in the Death Star. It's targeting the Defiant!"  
  
**********  
  
"Fools," the Emperor said, watching the battle on a holographic screen. "Let us show them the power of our fully operational Death Star!"  
  
**********  
  
Starship Defiant Kira Nerys nodded as a spread of photon torpedoes wiped out a dozen TIE fighters. The way was clear to the Death Star. Kira hoped the enhanced torpedoes would do the job. The sensors officers shouted a warning. The flash of light from the Death Star was warning enough, however.  
  
"Evasive maneuvers! Now!"  
  
The Defiant spun in the vacuum of space, trying to avoid certain death. It managed to escape the full fury of the Death Star, but even the glancing impact was enough. An energy beam that could shatter planets hit the Defiant. Its shields collapsed like a crystal vessel struck by a hammer. The rear third of the ship was obliterated; the rest was flung away like a discarded, broken toy.  
  
**********  
  
Starship Enterprise  
  
"No."  
  
Picard froze for one second, but he had a job to do. The whispered word was the only epitaph he could afford to give now.  
  
"Come about, flank speed."  
  
"We are in range, Captain."  
  
"Fire!"  
  
**********  
  
The shield protecting the Death Star shuddered under the impact of the enhanced photon torpedoes. For an instant, it flickered.  
  
But it held.  
  
**********  
  
Death Star  
  
The floor beneath Obi Wan and Qui-Gon trembled slightly.  
  
"The Enterprise failed to breach the shield," Qui-Gon commented. The fact that its success could have resulted in their deaths remained unsaid. "And."  
  
"Master?"  
  
"The Defiant has been nearly destroyed." Even amidst the psychic cries of thousands of lives being snuffed in the battle raging outside, Qui-Gon had been able to sense the deaths of men and women he knew personally. There were survivors, but he felt they would not last long.  
  
"The commando attack on the shield generator has failed. Data will no doubt try to do what's needed. As must we."  
  
"Then it is time to confront Palpatine," Obi Wan said. 


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

Author's Note: Yeah, I know, it's been like seven years. Hope people still want to read the end of this story.

Starship Enterprise

"Fire."

A full spread of photon torpedoes sent a Star Destroyer reeling, its port side shattered. The Enterprise shuddered as turbolasers raked its entire length. Before venturing to this universe, the Enterprise and Defiant had been thoroughly refitted: their shields, torpedoes and phasers were orders of magnitude more powerful than normal. Now Picard realized his original ship would have been snuffed like a candle in a hurricane by the firepower being wielded in this battle. The civilization that had built the Death Star had been developing space technology for centuries if not millennia.

Now it was clear that even with its refits, the Enterprise was only marginally better than one of the Empire's ships of the line. Its contribution to this battle would not be enough to turn the tide. Even as the Enterprise maneuvered to put the damaged Star Destroyer between it and the incoming fire, the Death Star fired its planet destroyer again, and a Rebel battleship was consumed in flames. On a side screen off the main viewer, the Defiant burned, ignored by both sides.

"Shields down to forty percent," Worf said curtly.

"Evasive maneuvers," Picard ordered. It felt too much like running away, but if the ship did not buy some time to rebuild its shields, it would not survive much longer. He could go into warp and leave the entire battle behind. But that would be running away, and he would not do that.

Was he buying time for his fellow agents – his friends – to carry out the plan, or just sacrificing himself and his command for no good purpose?

Death Star

From his hiding place inside a service corridor, Commander Data extruded a communication cable from his hand and plugged into the Death Star's communication network. The Empire was centuries ahead of the Federation in many ways, but it seemed that information technology wasn't one of them. His positronic brain sidestepped the Death Star's sidewalls with little trouble. Unfortunately, as he peered into the gigantic vessel's network, he discovered most vital systems – weapons, energy systems, life support - could not be reached this way; their command units were hardwired and not networked, which made them less efficient but impossible to hack, not without actually reaching those systems physically, and they were too well-guarded for that.

Still, as Commander Riker would say, there were many ways to skin a cat.

Data started looking at secondary systems. Most of those were networked together; they had to be, or managing such a large vessel would become an impossible task. If he could cause enough of those systems to malfunction, the cumulative damage could prove devastating. With a satisfied expression, Data composed a program that would rampage through the vessel's network.

"Hello, tin man," someone said behind him.

Data turned and found himself face to face with a grinning man in denim. He had never seen him before, but some of his fellow agents had.

"Randall Flagg."

"Roden Fell, right here and now," the grinning man replied. "But yes, 'tis me, happy to greet thee."

Data considered the situation. Roden Fell seemed to be alone. Data's program was already loose in the ship's systems, so all he needed to do was subdue or even distract Fell for a few minutes.

"You've been up to no good, haven't you, tin man?" Roden said, strolling casually towards Data. "I'm glad it was you I ran into. The Jedi clowns are just... simple, I guess. Light side, dark side, they have no depth, no nuance. You, now... Do androids dream of electric sheep? Do they have souls?"

Data reached for his phaser, but Roden Fell leaped and closed in, grappling the android before he could draw. Data was far stronger than any human being, but as soon as the grinning man touched him, he froze like a statue.

"Yesss," Fell hissed. "There is something in that positronic noggin. It's kinda like a soul, but not quite."

"What... are you doing to me?" Data said. His sensors were flickering wildly.

"You sort of have a soul, but it's got some interesting bugs," Fell said. "I think I can reprogram you, good buddy. I think I'm going to make a little copy of my soul, and then I'm going to upload it right up into your brain. You'll be like my twin brother, and then you're going to fix whatever mischief you were up to back there. Whaddaysay, Pinnochio? Wanna be my brother?"

Data tried to scream, but his body has no longer his to command.

Forest Moon of Endor

"They have an army down there," Leia whispered angrily from her hiding position. The commando group, minus two Rebel soldiers the Ewoks had killed, had finally reached the shield generator, and found it very well defended by at least a company of Imperial Walkers and maybe a battalion of Storm Troopers.

"That's just swell," Indiana Jones muttered. "Maybe we could sweet-talk the cannibal baby bears into switching sides."

"Why don't we concentrate on a plan that might actually work?" Han Solo said grumpily.

Quinn Mallory ignored the byplay. Ever since his little personal sliding power had manifested itself, he'd been seeing things. Little flashes of light out of the corner of his eyes, and occasionally, more substantial hallucinations. Except they weren't hallucinations but glimpses into other worlds. For a second, Quinn found himself looking at the scene below, with hordes of Ewoks charging the Imperial troopers, fighting on the side of the Rebellion. Hard to believe, but in another world, it had happened.

I'm Sliding even now, he thought to himself.

Worse than the hallucinations, sharp headaches had followed each "jump," barely noticeable at first, but the last one had left him with a brutal migraine that was just beginning to subside.

"A frontal assault is out of the question," Doc Savage was saying when Quinn started paying attention again. "We only have small arms and the demo charges."

"I'll do it," Quinn said.

"Works for me," Han Solo replied. "Use the Force, or whatever it is you're doing."

"I'd like to know what exactly it is you are doing," Doc Savage told Quinn.

"I think all my exposures to the Sliding process had an effect on me," Quinn replied tentatively. "It looks like I can do mini-Slides if I concentrate enough. Only I'm traveling in the same universe instead of different universes. Or maybe I'm jumping briefly to another universe and then jumping back to a different location in this one. I'm not sure."

"Quinn, is this ability safe?" Wade asked. "I can sense you are in pain, and it's getting worse."

"Wade, is anything we're doing safe?"

"Okay, you've got a point."

"All right, then. Give me all the demo charges."

There were twelve of them left. The Ewok attack had destroyed all the rest, luckily without actually causing them to detonate. Three or four charges would bring down the station, but Quinn would have to dispose of at least some of the forces guarding it. And he had some ideas on just how to do that.

"I'm going in, guys, if everything works out, you won't have to do anything." He turned to Wade and kissed her. "I love you."

"I love you too," Wade said, but he had already vanished in a flash of light.

Death Star

The two Jedi had no trouble reaching the Emperor's inner sanctum. It was clear Palpatine was expecting them.

So were Darth Vader and Sith Luke.

"We meet again," Darth Vader said.

"We meet at last," Qui-Gon replied. His counterpart in this world had failed like no other Jedi had ever failed. He had trained Obi -Wan Kenobi, who in turn had trained the two Sith before him, father and son, the seeds to the Republic's demise. He felt a need to redeem himself for things he had not done.

"And when we're done with you, we will deal with your master," Qui-Gon continued, looking at the Emperor. "You have much to answer for, Palpatine."

"You are nothing, Qui-Gon," Palpatine sneered. "A ghost from another world, a shadow from the past. You and your vaunted knights were my puppets, and I made you dance to my tune. Now you will merely provide me with a few moments' entertainment as your last deed in this world." He turned to Vader and Luke. "Kill them."

The two Sith raised their light sabers. Obi-Wan felt a disconcerting mixture of terror and pain, for their fighting stance was as familiar as his own.

"Deal with your teacher," Vader told Luke. "I have killed him once already."

"That will be my pleasure," Luke said, his painted face beaming with sadistic mirth. Obi-Wan felt the Dark Side of the force radiating from the young Sith, fueled by rage and hatred.

"Qui-Gon," Darth Vader said as he advanced. "In another life, you were kind to me. I will repay your kindness with a swift and painless death." He moved, lashing out with the speed of a striking serpent.

Qui-Gon met the energy blade with his own, and the battle was joined.

Starship Enterprise

"The Defiant has launched its life rafts," Riker announced. "I think it is going to..."

Picard saw the proud ship vanish in a blast of matter-antimatter annihilation. Few of the life rafts made it out of the lethal blast radius. An instant later, another Rebel starship was destroyed by the Death Star. The Imperial fleet had suffered severe losses as well; in at least two cases, Star Destroyers had been struck by the Death Star's massive beam, since the Rebels had flown into close combat in the hope the Death Star would be deterred from firing into its own vessels. Apparently the Emperor did not care about destroying his own ships.

Not that it mattered. The Rebels would be picked off one by one. If they tried to flee at this point, they would only provide the Death Star with more targets before the ragged survivors could escape into hyperspace.

"Captain."

Picard snapped from his temporary fugue. Riker was looking at him intently, and Picard could see the despair behind the professional expression.

"What are your orders, Captain?"

"Set a course to the Death Star. We will launch the remaining enhanced torpedoes." Their first salvo had consumed five of them. Only three remained. "Prepare all phasers and torpedoes. We will do a Time on Target volley." Time on Target meant timing the torpedoes and beams so they all struck at the exact same time. The chances of that volley working where the previous one had were essentially nil, but it was their best, their only, shot.

"Aye aye, Captain." Did Picard see reproach in Riker's eyes? No, it was resignation.

Death Star

So this is what death is like, Data thought.

He could no longer perceive the physical world. Instead, his consciousness had retreated into his memory sectors. From there, he could see his personal programming, and his memories, being erased, terabyte by terabyte. His emotion chip had been one of the first things to be wiped clean, so he could no longer feel terror as he contemplated oblivion.

"So is that all you are going to do? Watch yourself die?"

Data found himself on the Enterprise. He was in someone's personal quarters, sitting on a bed. Sitting next to him was a woman with blond short hair.

"Tasha."

Tasha Yar smiled at him. She looked exactly as she did in the hologram he always carried with him.

"Here I am, Data. My dear Data."

"You are a memory fragment," Data said logically.

"Am I? Did I ever call you dear?"

"No, you did not."

"I should have. I should have done many things. I think I would have, if I hadn't died."

"I believe so as well," Data replied. Strange. The emotion chip was gone, but there was something behind his normal cold reasoning affecting him.

"I'm glad you do. I always felt something for you. But I'm disappointed in you, Data. Giving up without a fight."

"I am no longer in control of any of my processing and functional systems," Data replied with a tinge of defensiveness that surprised him. "Fighting is no longer an option."

"How logical. Maybe I should have given up when I was a child, let the rape gangs have me."

"The situations are not comparable. You had volition. I seem to have lost it."

"Then why don't you go looking for it?"

"My persona has been overwritten. Currently only seventeen percent of my memories and original programming remain. They will be completely wiped out in sixty-three seconds."

"Will you please try? For me? How many calculations can you make in sixty seconds?"

"Fifty-one seconds left. Several million in that time." He paused. "I will try."

"Thank you." Tasha stood up and hugged Data briefly. "I have one question before I go."

"Go ahead."

"The hologram of me you carry. Why do you have it? You don't need an image of me. Every memory you had of me is perfectly imprinted in you."

"I wanted to have something of yours to hold, every once in a while."

Tasha kissed him. "I will see you again, one day."

Data found himself a disembodied form surrounded by his rapidly diminishing memories.

He started devising a fighting strategy.

Forty-one seconds left.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

Forest Moon of Endor

Sliding had never been a pleasant experience for Quinn Mallory. Falling down a twisting tube of light might have been fun once or twice, but it got old quickly. Especially when you never knew where you would end up.

This was worse. Every slide sent spikes of pain through his head, and they got worse with every jump.

Quinn appeared right under an Imperial Walker surrounded by storm troopers. Before the startled soldiers could react, Quinn dropped a satchel charge, set for 1 second to detonation, and slid off into the light. By the time the charge blew up, he had done the same to another cluster of soldiers. He jumped again, and set another charge by the force field generator. Then he staggered before he could set the bomb's timer. The pain in his head had increased tenfold. Blood was running down his nose. The slides were killing him.

Must go on, he told himself. He set the timer with his now shaking hands. Blaster fire almost got him; some of the Imperials had seen him reappear near the facility and were shooting at him. An instant later, blaster and phaser fire from the treeline knocked the storm troopers down. Quinn's friends were attacking to support him.

"Dammit. Not... in the plan," Quinn muttered. Or was it in the plan. It was getting hard to think. He looked at the satchel's charge timer. He'd set it for five seconds, and there were two seconds left.

"Whoops."

He slid away just in time, or maybe not quite in time. He felt some of the blast and heat follow him through the dimensional jump, and when he reappeared behind a tree, he could feel blood running down his back, and burns on the back of his neck. Funny thing was, the pain of his wounds was nothing compared to the agony in his head. He could barely see. Getting up was one of the hardest things he'd ever done in his life.

The station was burning, but it still stood. The Imperials might fix it. Even worse, a squad of storm troopers and the last walker were attacking his friends. Quinn looked at his bag o' bombs. Two left.

"Just two – no, three... more slides," he said, wiping blood off his nose.

Slide one. He came out screaming in agony, dropped the bomb right in front of the advancing soldiers, jumped away. Slide two. He materialized next to the burning station and dropped his last satchel charge. One last slide. He pushed with his mind, and nothing happened. He couldn't even walk away, could barely see the bomb's timer as it ran towards zero.

"Wade..." He had to see her one more time. He pushed, and felt something break inside him.

The station blew up a few seconds after Quinn's next to last bomb took out the last Imperial squad. Wade shot one of the fleeing solders, then heard a body collapsing behind her. She turned to see Quinn. He wasn't moving.

"Quinn!"

He wasn't breathing, either.

Death Star

"Liar. Filthy liar," Sith Luke hissed. His light saber was a whirlwind, feinting and striking with a ferocity that drove Obi-Wan back. Luke's swordplay was very much like Obi-Wan, so much that facing him was like fighting a mirror image. A younger, less well-trained mirror image. The Sith had only trained for a few months, after all, had never enjoyed the full depth of a Jedi's education. Ordinarily, this duel should have been over in seconds, Obi-Wan's skills were clearly higher and better-honed.

But the Dark Side was tipping the scales.

That was the temptation the Sith offered those strong in the Force. Hatred and fear allowed an adept to channel levels of energy that normally took decades to achieve. The Dark Side was the easy way, allowing even a half-trained boy to drive back a Jedi Knight in a savage flurry of light saber strokes. Obi-Wan winced as a near miss left his tunic smoldering, a third-degree burn in the skin and flesh beneath. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Qui-Gon similarly beset by the relentless Darth Vader. Obi-Wan could only spare a glance to see his former teacher's plight, and then he had to somersault away to avoid being cut in two by Luke's attack.

"You were a sanctimonious old man," Luke snarled as the duelists paused briefly. "And you're even more pathetic now." His tone became petulant. "I trusted you and lied to me."

Obi-Wan's patience was wearing thin. "Luke Skywalker, you're a whiny little b..." Luke charged him before he could complete his sentence. That, however, was just what Obi-Wan had planned for. He ducked low, and used the Force to push Luke forward, increasing his momentum and catapulting the young Sith into the air. Luke flew over Obi-Wan and slammed against a wall with enough force to knock his light saber off his hand and leave him stunned on the floor. Before Luke could recover, Obi-Wan stood over him, his light saber inches away from the Sith's face. Luke reached for his light saber, but Obi-Wan made a gesture and the weapon flew into his waiting hand.

"Neat trick," Luke said between clenched teeth.

"It does come in handy," Obi-Wan replied evenly.

"You beat me," Luke admitted. "Finish it, then." He braced for the killing blow he would have delivered if their places had been reversed.

"I probably should," the Jedi replied. "But there might be hope for you yet. If given the chance, you could see your crimes for what they are, and perhaps even try to redeem yourself. Death would rob you of that chance."

"What? You stupid fool!" Luke tried to leap to his feet, but Obi-Wan pushed with his mind and slammed the Sith back against the wall, hard enough to knock him out.

"Maybe not all that much hope," Obi-Wan muttered, and turned his attention to the battle between Vader and Qui-Gon. He was just in time to watch the two combatants spin in the air in a move as perfectly stylized as a complicated dance maneuver, almost beautiful in its elegance, except that a dance maneuver didn't lead to death and dismemberment.

Darth Vader's light saber struck Qui-Gon's right arm, severing it at the elbow. The pain would have paralyzed any normal man, but Qui-Gon seemed not to notice. Even as his limb spun away, he gestured with his left hand. The Force grasped the light saber held in his severed right hand – and sent it towards Darth Vader. The Sith Lord tried to parry. The desperate maneuver saved him from being cut in half. Instead, Darth Vader's right arm fell to the ground in a shower of sparks and smoke. The two crippled duelists landed in similar crouching positions, facing each other, both too weak to fight on.

Darth Vader looked at Obi-Wan, and past the Jedi to the crumpled form of Luke. "My son," he said, and was there a trace of feeling in his mechanical voice?

"Luke Skywalker lives," Obi-Wan said. "As you may live, if you turn aside from the Dark Side."

"Mercy is a weakness," Vader replied, but his tone lacked conviction.

"Mercy is the only strength that matters," Qui-Gon said.

Obi-Wan started to nod – and a physical impact combined with a bolt of burning energy knocked him to the ground.

Starship Enterprise

Nobody was more surprised than Picard when the force shields protecting the Death Star winked out of existence just before he gave the order to open fire. He didn't let it show, of course. One of the burdens of command was the need to remain calm, or at least maintain the appearance of calm. He suppressed both the gasp of surprise or the urge to grin in savage satisfaction as the volley of phasers and torpedoes struck the Death Star and carved a Star Destroyer-sized hole into the planetoid. It wasn't enough to destroy it, of course, but now, for the first time since the battle was joined, they had a chance.

"Fire at will," he said, much in the same tone he would have during a training exercise.

"Captain, the Death Star is targeting us."

"Evasive maneuver Alpha. Full impulse. All weapons fire as you bear. Concentrate on the main weapon." Their only hope now was to become as hard a target as possible, and hope the Enterprise's weapons would damage and confuse their sensors to make a target lock impossible. Picard feared that all they were doing was kicking and screaming on the way to the gallows, only postponing the inevitable.

So be it.

Data's Mind

Roden Fell was running for his life.

Nothing is free. Roden Fell had seized control of the android, but he, for all his powers, could only be in one place at a time. To take over Data's body, he had to give up his own. Nothing remained of Roden Fell but an empty set of clothes. The possessed Data now contained Roden's twisted, monstrously happy mind. He had plenty of ideas about what to do with the android's superhuman body now that he was in the driver's seat.

Except, the damn tin man was fighting back.

Data's memory and programming were holographic in nature. Among other things, that meant that as long as even a portion of his consciousness remained, it had the potential to replace all that was lost. And Data was no furiously making copies of himself, taking back the places Roden Fell had replaced with his own dark essence.

For an outside observer, the battle was rather undramatic. Roden Fell disappeared, leaving his clothes behind, Data's expression became cheerfully evil for a minute or so, and then the android stopped, frozen in place. This went on for another two minutes or so.

Inside Data' mind scape, things were rather more exciting.

Roden Fell found himself beset by ghosts from Data's memories. Klingons and Ferengi attacked him with beam weapons or their bare hands. Monsters and humans, friends and enemies, entities beyond human comprehension and the more mundane places and people all started appearing around the dark man, attacking him without mercy. They weren't real in a technical sense, but such distinctions were lost on the dark man. He had to fight back. And, being what he was, he fought well, leaving a trail of broken bodies behind him.

"Is that the best you've got?" Fell yelled defiantly.

"Oh, I think that would be me," a prissy-sound man said behind him.

The dark man turned around and found himself facing a man in a Starfleet captain's uniform. Seemingly a man, but Roden Fell saw more than a human could, and he could immediately see the near infinite power behind the illusion.

"My, my," Q said wonderingly, observing the dark man much like a researcher watching a guinea pig. "You are a bit of a cold sore on the face of universe, aren't you?"

"You... you can't be here," Roden Fell said. "You're just another memory."

"Well, yes and no. You see, for certain orders of being, memories have more than an evocative effect. They also have an... invocation effect. So, for some intents and purposes, you poisonous little worm, I am here. At the very least, I'm here enough to deal with you. Want to try to go _mano a mano_ with me? It would be more of a workout than I've had in a while, and I could use the exercise."

Roden Fell considered this for a second. Then he fled. His essence left Data's mind to wherever Fell/Flagg went when defeated.

Data appeared next to the satisfied-looking Q.

"Thank you," Data said. "I cannot tell if this was a bluff my mind generated, or I am thanking the real Q."

"Don't strain your positronic brain trying to figure it out," Q said. "You know the old expression, you live on in people's memories? It's a little more true in some cases than in others."

Q vanished, and Data returned to reality, right where he had confronted Roden Fell of whom nothing remained by a set of empty clothes.

Time to get back to work.

Death Star

Sith Luke woke up in time to see the Emperor about to unleash a blast of dark energy on an unsuspecting Obi-Wan Kenobi.

To those with strength in the Force, physical appearance was secondary to the imprint of someone's soul. To Luke's senses, the man in his prime he had encountered was no different from Old Ben Kenobi, the wizened teacher who had taken a confused boy and shown him an entire new universe of possibilities. Underneath all the hatred and disappointment was a hard core of love and respect. What Luke saw when he regained consciousness was his old teacher in danger. He didn't think. He didn't consider the lesson Obi-Wan had tried to teach him moments before, or the darker teachings of the Emperor and the shell of his father Darth Vader. For one moment, Luke was the simple farmer boy from Tatooine. And the simple farmer boy saw his friend and teacher in danger.

Luke jumped, a Force-assisted leap that knocked Obi-Wan out of the way of the Emperor's attack. The unleashed Dark Force had to claim someone's life however. Luke's flesh was consumed by it. His nervous system flared with the light of a supernova and burned out, leaving behind a smoldering shell. It was over in less than a second, and yet for Luke it was time enough to know that he had done well.

Luke Skywalker died smiling.

Starship Enterprise

It wasn't working.

The Death Star sensors were locking on, slowly but inexorably. The Enterprise's maneuvers had bought its crew a few minutes, but soon the enemy would finalize a targeting solution, and the Enterprise would share in the Defiant's fate.

When the ship shook violently, almost throwing Picard off the command chair, he briefly thought the inevitable had already happened. But he was alive on his next breath, so clearly the Death Star hadn't struck. What..?

"Captain, a Super Star Destroyer is on an intercept course. We're taking heavy fire from it; shield strength is down to forty-three percent."

Picard glanced at the screen that showed the advancing juggernaut, 1.6 kilometers long, it's turbolasters blasting away. And yet its threat was dwarfed by the Death Star. In fact...

"Alter course! Take us straight into the Star Destroyer!"

"Captain?"

"Divert power to shields and take us there!"

Picard's crew followed his orders. They were all smart enough to know how slim their chances were, and to understand Picard had found a chance, however small.

It was rather simple, actually, a three-sided race to see what happened first. Either the Death Star would fire and obliterate the Enterprise, the Super Star Destroyer's turbolaser batteries would overwhelm the ship's shields and do the same or...

"Death Star is firing," Riker said tersely.

Or the Enterprise would manage to interpose the Super Star Destroyer in between.

The planet-destroying blast struck. The Super Star Destroyer was the first victim: neither its size, shields or armor spared it, and it blew up spectacularly. The Enterprise was hit next, but the Star Destroyer's destruction had served its purpose. Only a fraction of the Death Star's blast actually hit Picard's ship.

Even a fraction of that power was bad enough, however.

Picard numbly looked at the damage reports. The shields were down. Giordi in Engineering had been severely injured when the reactors overloaded. One warp nacelle had been sheared clean off the ship. Auxiliary power was keeping the ship alive and under power, but not for long. The Enterprise was temporarily safe, enveloped by the expanding gasses of the obliterated Star Destroyer, but it was a temporary retrieve.

"I've done what I can," Picard muttered. It would be up to others to save the day.

Death Star

The Emperor's next bolt slammed into Qui-Gon, knocking the wounded Jedi on his back but not killing him outright. Obi-Wan's former teacher was out of the fight, however.

"It's over, little Jedi," the Emperor crowed, unleashing more bolts of energy. It was all Obi-Wan could do to dodge the attacks. Sooner or later, the Emperor would score a hit, and it would be over.

Darth Vader struggled to his knees, his eyes fixed on Luke's remains for several moments. When he finally looked away, it was to regard the Emperor, who was too busy taunting Obi-Wan to pay notice.

"Now you understand the power of the Dark..." The Emperor's words were cut off suddenly, as he felt brutal pressure constricting his windpipe. He glanced towards Darth Vader whose outstretched hand was squeezing, serving as a focus for the Force. Desperate, the Emperor unleashed his power on Darth Vader.

The two masters of the Dark Side of the Force struck at each other like maddened beasts, Darth Vader continuing to apply telekinetic pressure even as his flesh-and-metal body melted away. The Emperor's neck broke. An instant later, what little was left of Darth Vader relaxed and stopped moving.

Obi-Wan hung his head for a moment. Darth Vader slaying the Emperor seemed... fitting, somehow. In many ways Anakin Skywalker had been one of the Emperor's worst victims. Obi-Wan sketched a salute to the two dead Skywalkers, and ran to Qui-Gon's side. The older Jedi was alive but unconscious.

"I can carry him."

Obi-Wan turned and saw Data. "The ship will self-destruct shortly," the android explained. "There is a escape shuttle nearby, set aside for the Emperor's use. I believe he no longer has any use for it."

"But we do," Obi-Wan said gratefully.

Starship Enterprise

The end was spectacular.

The Death Star exploded seconds before it was ready to fire again. Its destruction took the fight out of the Imperial Fleet, which scattered in all directions, every ship trying to escape on its own. The Rebel fleet hunted down many of the survivors, ensuring that the might of the Empire was broken once and for all. The Enterprise managed to jury-rig enough systems to limp away on its own, after taking in the vessels with the rest of the Eternity Legion on board, and rescue all the survivors from the Defiant that could be found.

Kira Nerys was not among the survivors. Along with many others, friends and companions.

The Rebel fleet held multiple celebrations on the larger Mons Calamari cruisers. Some had proposed setting down on Endor, but nobody wanted to share space with the still-dangerous Ewok cannibals. Leia was thinking about sending a mission later on to try and undo the damage her brother had inflicted on the natives. The Enterprise held a more muted gathering on Ten Forward. The victory had been worth it, a galaxy and perhaps an entire universe had been spared. But Picard could not help but counting the cost.

Picard noticed Wade sitting listlessly by herself. He walked over. "How is Quinn doing?"

"No changes. Doctor Crusher chased me away from sickbay, said I needed some time off. I'll be back there in a few minutes, though."

"We'll do what we can," Picard promised. Quinn had fallen into a coma, and so far nothing any of the Legion's technological, magical or psychic resources had made any difference. The current theory had been that Quinn's Slides had somehow stripped him of something. His soul, perhaps, scattering it across the Multiverse. There had also been severe neurological damage, but that had been repaired without improving his condition.

"We'll do what we can," Picard repeated. It sounded hollow to his own ears.

The watch nurses did not notice the apparitions taking shape next to Quinn's bed. Something made them not pay attention to the events transpiring there.

Anakin and Luke Skywalker's Force thought forms hovered next to Quinn's bed. Father and son looked as they had in better days. They also looked far happier than they had ever been in life. They watched Quinn's still form.

"Are you sure you want to do this, Luke?" Anakin asked. "There will be a price, a... diminishing effect for both of us." Father and soon had only experienced a tiny glimpse of their future, but they had learned that much. Sacrifices made now would have long-lasting consequences.

"This man paid his price, unquestioningly." Luke replied. "We can't do any less."

Anakin nodded in agreement. They gathered their power.

On Ten Forward, Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan and Wade all stiffened as they sensed the Force being used nearby. Qui-Gon relaxed first.

"What is happening?" Obi-Wan asked.

Qui-Gon smiled. "A good thing." He walked to Wade, who had stopped listening to Picard and was trying to pinpoint the source of Force-energy she had sensed.

"Sometimes good deeds are rewarded," he told her. "You should go to sick bay."

Wade's haunted expression brightened with a glimmer of hope. She looked questioningly at Qui-Gon, and he nodded. Eyes brimming with tears, she rushed off.

On sick bay, Quinn opened his eyes, catching a glimpse of two men he'd never met, knowing immediately what he owed them. The two men disappeared, and he looked around, finding himself alone.

But not for long.

THE END


End file.
